


Distant Stars

by BoneDaddyAinz



Category: Halo (Video Games) & Related Fandoms, Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Doomed Timelines, Emotional Baggage, F/M, Fish out of Water, Halo Lore, Major Original Character(s), ODST Orbital Drop Shock Trooper(s), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Returning Home, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Tragedy, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 06:01:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 41
Words: 168,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24220075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BoneDaddyAinz/pseuds/BoneDaddyAinz
Summary: Adrian has spent half his life fighting the Covenant, its all he's ever known, all that he ever thought he wanted. As an ODST he's come to terms that the universe is cruel and unexpected, yet nothing could prepare him for the events that would throw him into a world engulfed with it's own civil strife. Now he's torn between aiding a group of ragtag heroes, or finding a way back home to fight his fight for a doomed humanity.
Relationships: Angela "Mercy" Ziegler/Original Character(s)
Comments: 35
Kudos: 35





	1. Same Sky, Different Earth

**Skies over New Mombasa, Africa, Earth**

**2552**

The plan wasn’t any different than anything else Adrian and his squad had done before, land on a covenant carrier, collect what data they could and plant the bombs around the ship. Granted they’d only done in twice before, one of those being a simulation but hey technically they’d done it before, and it wasn’t anything new. Easy in easy out, the only difference was that this particular carrier was currently laying waste to New Mombasa on Earth, the Covenant bastards had finally found Earth. In truth it wasn’t that much of a surprise that they’d found Earth, for most people in the UNSC it wasn’t a question of if but when, he’d just hoped they would’ve had a bit more time before the Covenant came to Earth but nothing is ever easy. They weren’t the only ODST squad on this mission though, command had about three other teams dropping on the same carrier, death rate was ‘projected’ high and apparently those ONI spooks figured that three squads was enough to take casualties and still complete the mission. Of course, this was never actually said at their briefing, but everyone knew, ODST missions were always high risk, but here over New Mombasa, they couldn’t take the chance. That was how Adrian had ended up here, in his pod for the umpteenth drop aiming for a Covenant carrier, while his squadmates’ bantered over the comms.

“Look here ya cunts, all I’m saying is with the covvies on Earth, there’s no fuckin way that it can’t get worse. I’m buggered from the god damn early wake call and now I got you wankas tryin’ to have a go at me.”

Adrian had to speak up at that, “Listen here Barbie, never ever fucking say it can’t get worse. Because it fucking can and it will, you’ve jinxed us.” A round of agreements from his squad

“Oh, piss off Marauder, you fuckin' Viking pagans are just spewin because all yer remembered for is raidin’ and raping.” Barbie said dismissively over the comms, he wanted to argue that his ancestors were Russian, hence his last name Kasporov, but ODST’s often weren’t known for their book smarts. He ignored the continuing banter as they broke the cloud line, the sprawling city of New Mombasa revealed itself in all its glory, but what was once a jewel of the UNSC was now lit ablaze by plasma fire and crumbled into ruins. They continued their descent, their group being the first of the three made it so they were much closer when it all went to shit.

“Hey guys, what the hell is that squad doing? They’re breaking off course, their trajectory isn’t even close to the carrier!” Talos spoke out over the comms, and sure enough when checking the radar, one of the three groups broke off. Seemed like they’d land in the streets at that angle, but it wasn’t his problem, so he ignored it, seemed like their plan just had a lot higher chance of failing. Not that it mattered much anyway, as soon as his bod was nearing carrier and bracing himself for impact the sensors in his drop pod picked up a massive influx of radiation.

“What the fuck…” He wasn’t left guessing for long as he saw a massive slipspace rupture open up in front of him and his drop pod kept on getting closer with every passing second, “Shit! They’re gonna jump, everyone break off now!” Adrian screamed into the comms, he hoped that his squad would make it but as for himself, well he’d never had the best of luck and looking back he supposed it was a miracle enough that he’d lived at all after getting caught in a slipspace jump with nothing but his drop pod.

**Somewhere in the Wilds of Kenya, Africa**

**2075**

Taking a long huff of his cigar, Jesse McCree blew out a puff of smoke and stared up at the late afternoon sky. Winston had sent him down here with Genji to keep tabs on a possible Talon shipment that would be leaving Mombasa, though they’d been here for over a day and seen no signs of any shipment. He wouldn’t be surprised if it was a bust, Talon had been quiet for the last month or two and the still forming new Overwatch was eager to take on any projects it could grab. Sometimes it worked out well and they got lucky but sometimes it seemed that Talon was just draggin’ them along through the dirt to see how far they’d go. He sighed and was about to turn to Genji to call the mission off when he saw something out of the corner of his eye, it came barreling out of the clouds like a rocket and landed a few miles away with at thud and a burst of dust. It seemed like today was just about to become a whole lot more interesting.

Adrian calmed his breath and took stalk of the situation, looking around at the surroundings and felt a sense of ease come over him, he was still alive in his drop pod, and all the past events hit him in one wave. Adrian let out a deep sigh of relief, it seemed he was still alive after managing the impossible. While he’d come to terms with dying, that didn’t mean he wanted to die, any chance he got at living was good enough for him. He’d had no doubts that he’d meet his end in the war, hell it was already a miracle that he lived since he enlisted in 2539. Looking back on it, he wasn’t sure what was more dangerous, the fewer but more dangerous missions he had as an ODST, or the absolute living hell of being on the ground as a marine and not knowing where he’d be the unlucky bastard to take a needler shard to the chest. Throwing aside his rambling thoughts, he turned back to the situation at hand, where the hell he was. Clearly, he was on some solid land which was good, blind drops always have a chance of hitting a body of water and there’s not much you can do if that happens, well he wasn’t going to get anywhere just sitting around. Looking through the view port all he could see was a clear blue sky, he pulled the lever to pop his hatch, the door blasting off with bang and landed with a crash. Slowly standing out of his pod, it looked like he was still in Africa, yellow savannah grassland spread out before him, maybe he’d missed the slipspace jump and had simply gotten blown off course…far off course? He hoped out of his pod and onto solid ground, grass and dirt crunching beneath his boots, he tried his comms but only picked up static, for now it looked like he’d be on his own.

Turning back to his pod, he climbed in and pulled out his weapons, going into a covenant carrier had him a touch paranoid about being he’d skirted around some of the regulations and put in extra provisions and gear into his pod. It seemed like now it was going to pay off, he pulled out an BR55 Service Rifle, a silenced M7S caseless submachine gun, and a M6C/SOCOM pistol. He holstered his weapons on his bodies and brought out a small duffel bag, he stored his extra ammo and the tech equipment he’d brought in case they hit any roadblocks in the carrier. Each member in an ODST squad is generally well versed in most fields, but each member also has one specialization. Barbie was the field medic, and Adrian was the tech specialist, while he could do a decent patchwork job on himself or others, that damn Aussie was a miracle worker in the field. Slinging the bag over his shoulder, thought about his next move, the Covenant were focused on New Mombasa, but they were attack world-wide, wherever he went there could be covvies in hiding or already attack. Taking a view of the area around him, he saw no buildings or defining markers, his best bet then would be to head East. If he was still in Kenya, and it seemed he was, then going East would bring him to the Indian Ocean, from there he should be able to find a boat or find some civilization. About to turn he stopped when he the sound of footsteps and dirt crunching behind him, swiftly turning he brought the battle rifle to aim at the unknown behind him. The unknown turned out to be a man that was just as confused as him, except this man as dressed like a…cowboy? He’d never been to Earth, but he was fairly confident that cowboys didn’t exist anymore, let alone in Africa. The man had a poncho with an armored chest piece under it, his faced was hardy with a rugged beard and messy hair, he exuded a sort of roughish charm.

He decided to try and speak first, “Civilian right? Is there a town or city nearby, a place I can use to get in radio contact with my squad?” He fidgeted, this was who situation was strange, he kept his rifle pointed at the man and it was then he noticed that the cowboy had a large revolver upon his hip. The man put a hand up to his ear and spoke, he couldn’t hear much but he picked up the words ‘talon’ and ‘capture’, he wasn’t sure what the importance of the first word meant but the second was no promising.

He slowly started to back up, inching bit by bit, “I’m Lance Corporal Kasporov of the UNSC. 5th Shock Troops Battalion of the 105th Expeditionary Unit.” The man stopped talking, the look in his eyes had changed from simple hostility to a bit of confusion, Adrian flicked the safety of his battle rifle and was about to clear up the whole situation when he felt a blade upon his neck. Slowly turning his head he saw…a spartan? No, not a spartan, this one was too lithe and small, his armor too slick and clean to be anything developed by the UNSC or ONI.

When it spoke, its voice carried a robotic edge to it, “You need not sacrifice your life for such an abominable group.”

Abominable group? The UNSC? It was then that the pieces started to fall into place in his mind, the knock off spartan armor, the strange clothing, the lack of communication, fucking insurrectionists. He didn’t know the innies were on Earth, but they’d never had qualms about starting shit even while humanity was fighting the covenant, so it wasn’t a stretch to see that sneaking in all the confusion and trying to use the imminent fall of Earth to their advantage. Putting his hands up in the air, he slowly dropped his battle rifle into the dirt, when he felt the blade ease off his neck, he ducked under it and drew his combat knife, turning to face the tin man he landed a hit into his side, the knife plunging it into his body. UNSC combat knives were rated to cut through a spartan’s helmet, these pathetic innie rip-offs stood no chance. Yanking his knife out he assumed a combat stance against armored man, a light stream of blood oozed out of the wound. He knew that the man behind him was like closing in, a two on one fight where he was severely disadvantaged didn’t bode well, but at the least he’d be able to take them down with him.

“Your technique is impressive, yet crude. There is no art behind your moves.” The synthesized voice spoke once more. The ground shifted behind him, it was the cowboy, if they’d wanted him dead they’d had plenty of times to do it, it seems more like they want to capture and interrogate him. Flipping the balanced knife in his hand, he quickly spun and threw it at the cowboy. The man had quick reflexes he’d give him that, but the surprise was more than enough to throw him off balance. The knife landed in his shoulder with a squelch, Adrian took the pistol from his hip and turned back to aim at the armored figure, it was far faster than he had thought and he’d barely let off a glancing shot before an armored fist came up under his chin and brought Adrian’s world to darkness.

McCree gritted his teeth and his yanked a vicious combat knife from his shoulder, it was definitely larger than the average knife, but it felt perfectly weighted in his hand. Initially they’d both though that the man was Talon, and while they idea wasn’t off the table just yet…what he’d said was strange. Neither of them had heard of this ‘UNSC’, it planted a seed of doubt within him, they’d planned to capture and interrogate the guy regardless but now his life was worth considerably more because of the uncertainty. Genji had looked over the man’s weapons, armor, and the pod he fell in and had no answers, it was advanced that much was clear, but it felt…off. He wasn’t a scientist and he wasn’t much for education, but even he knew there was something different about this technology, he’d had to get it to Winston as soon as possible.

“Winston, its McCree.”

“Ah my friend, how goes the stakeout?”

“It was a bust, but that’s not important, we got something a lot more important.” Winston’s initial disappointment disappeared in a flash; his curiosity piqued.

“What is it?”

“Less of a what…but a who. I’ll explain everything to you in Gibraltar, but we need a drop-ship to evac and make sure it’s large.” McCree eyed the pod the man had come from, “We’ve got a lot to carry.”

**Skies above the Alboran Sea, Europe**

Adrian groaned, it felt like he’d been sacked by a bag of rocks, his head was pounding but his jaw felt the worst. He moved his lower jaw around and heard some cracking, ignoring it he opened his eyes and was immediately blinded, he instinctively went to cover his eyes, but he felt a tug on his wrist. His arms were bound together behind his back, he also realized that his helmet had been taken and was sitting on the chair next to him, just out of reach. Looking around it seemed like he was inside a military ship of sort, it had similarities to a pelican but this was far more spacious, it was also painted in a soft white and gold color palette, a far cry from the grey, green, and black of the UNSC. This only spurred him to ask more questions, if they were innies, then they most have connections or wealth, he’d never seen a ship like this. It was clearly military inspired sure, but it also seemed far too impractical for any serious military operation. The innies were all about guerrilla tactics, it seemed odd for them to call attention to themselves with such an extravagant ship, something was off here. If he could just get to his helmet and establish communications – but these bindings were tight, he wouldn’t be escaping soon. He heard a door swish open, turning he saw the two men from earlier walk through, they stopped their conversation as soon as they noticed they Adrian was awake. The cowboy had the shoulder he’d hit wrapped with the arm in a sling, the armored man with a glowing green visor had bandages wrapped around his waist, it’d seemed useless to not simply remove the armor and wrap the skin but it wasn’t the weirdest thing with this group he’d seen. Taking a closer look at the metallic man, it only confirmed that the armor wasn’t anything by ONI. The armor was almost muscular, it was sleek and far too smooth, a bandanna seemed to flow form behind his helmet and the sword was a unique choice.

“Can I ask what the plan is? It’s not polite to take someone home before you’ve taken them out to dinner, that’s just common courtesy.” An edge to his voice, this whole thing was going no to long, the Covenant were on Earth and as hopeless as it was, he’d hoped that even the innies would be able to grasp the shit show going down.

The cowboy grunted a that and sat down across from him, “How about we ask you some question and if we feel you’ve answered well enough…we’ll see were it goes from there.”

Adrian snapped a that, “Aghh god you fucking morons, we’re in the middle of a war. We don’t have time to pussyfoot around and play twenty question. I get it, you guys are pissed at the UNSC, independence and freedom and all that, but can’t you see we have a common fucking enemy? The god damn covenant are knocking on humanities doorstep and you guys are dressing up to go to a Halloween party?”

The cowboy looked up towards his metallic friend, “So he’s just crazy then?”

“No, there conviction in his words, his eyes are set alight with fury. He believes what he says.”

Adrian was baffled, were these people living in an entirely separate world? So dissociated from reality that they didn’t know that they’d be strung up by their intestines. Or maybe they’d both suffered such a traumatic shock that they blocked the war from their minds? This whole situation was ridiculous.

“Conviction? Belief? I… what the hell are you loonies on about? Where have you been living to miss thirty years humanity getting their assed kicked back to the stone age. I mean seriously you guys must’ve lost SOMEONE in the glassings right?” Adrian spoke, increasingly slacked jaw at the lack of response from either of them. With an exasperated sigh he threw himself back into the seat, there’d be no arguing with these people. “Christ fine, what questions do you wanna ask?”

After muttering something to his friend, he turned his steel gaze towards Adrian, “Let’s start simple, who are ya’?”

“I already told you, Lance Corporal Adrian Kasporov of the UNSC. 5th Shock Troops Battalion of the 105th Expeditionary Unit. Service number 5347922037-AK.”

“Military then.”

“Gee what gave it away.”

“How about that pod there then? How’s that tie into yer military service.” The cowboy took a glance at his drop pod then back to himself.

“It’s a drop pod, I’m part of the 105th you know?” The cowboy tilted his head in confusion, Adrian sighed, “Right…talking to children. Listen, you’re taking me to your commander, right?” The cowboy hesitated before nodding, “Before I say anything more, I want to talk with him. If the rest of your group is as blind as you are, I don’t even see a point in explaining.” With that he leaned back in his seat and shut his eyes, he’d learned to sleep just about anywhere. Nothing was guaranteed with the covenant and being able to snatch bits of sleep when you could, was a lifesaver. The duo realized that trying anything more was fruitless and went their own ways and waited for the ship to land. The rest of the flight was uneventful, not that Adrian would’ve noticed much anyway having sleep through just about all of it, only awakening when he felt the drop-ship prepare for a landing. He wasn’t sure much of where he was, only picking up ‘Mediterranean’ from the duo, further adding to his confusion. This group had reach and reach beyond just Africa then, he’d spent his brief rest trying to come to his own conclusions and a way to ask his own questions, but all his thoughts led to dead ends. He felt the ship land and saw the other two rise, the cowboy came over to him and drew a large bowie knife from his belt, kneeling down he cut the ropes around his legs and yanked him up by the elbow, he nodded towards his helmet, the man sighed as he picked it up and placed it upon Adrian’s head. Happy to just be moving his legs he offered no complaints as he was pushed forward as the ramp lowered to the ground, showcasing a base built into the cliff-side. The evening light showered the base in a reddish-brown hue, turning to take in the base as he was walked down the ramp, he saw a vast sea that expanded from the cliffs edge. Waiting at the bottom of the ramp was a dozen armed guards with an attractive dark-skinned woman leading them, she was in a bulky blue armored suit and had a tattoo on her right eye.

"Is this the subject you mentioned earlier McCree?” She looked at the cowboy, so his name was McCree.

“Aye, that’s right Amari. He’s a strange one, keep your guard up.”

“Doesn’t look like much to me.” Her gaze turned back to him was a cold stare, “Get your wounds looked after by Angela, she’ll have your heads if she found out you guys missed her clinic.” The cowboy, McCree waved and turned, the armored man gave a small bow before following.

The woman, Amari, gave him by the shoulders and pushed him forward, they walked in silence until they appeared in a planning room of some sort, a large map of Earth laid on one wall in the corner while a holographic globe laid in the center upon a conference table. Strange…there was…no mention of the covenant and even now, his walk through the exterior of the base everyone seemed calm. As if the main hostile was himself, he darkly chuckled to himself, that…there’s no way. Its just not possible. He was led up a set of stairs in the same room that opened up into a lab of sorts, there was no one in the room but then he heard a series of resounding thuds and saw _it_ swing into view, a brute. All his earlier skepticism and doubt was replaced by a blind fury.

“Whoa hold up, you crazy motherfuckers are working with the brutes? This is…ridiculous! Those two assholes in the ship played dumb about the covenant and here you guys are working with some of the worst. Dirty fucking apes.” Adrian spat, the Guard Captain had her hand firmly placed upon his shoulder, squeezing harder than she needed to keep him in line.

“Oh…well…that’s not how I hoped to begin this conversation.” It spoke, it SPOKE, clearly -- in English. The longer he looked at it the less like a typical brute it seemed, it seemed…softer and the thing ever worse glasses. His anger faded but simmered, the confusion that had previously left came back in force.

“Who are you people? Where am I? And why aren’t you fighting the covenant?!” He yelled; his voice hoarse.

The ape looked at him, unlike with the cowboy, its eyes were not filled with confusion and doubt, but with thought. “Amari please leave us but stay outside the door. I’d like to talk to our guest in private.” He thought she would’ve protested or argued, but instead she gave a firm nod and left, his shoulder cried out in relief. This ape, who or whatever her is, commands a great deal of respect from the people here, but his demeaner seems weak…soft.

“I hoped that we can help each other out, so in a gesture of good faith I’ll answer your questions first. We are Overwatch, a group of the best and brightest collected from around the world to combat evil. Or…at least that’s the hope. We used to be strong but not anymore, I’ve had to rebuild what once was and our numbers are still small. As for where you are, this is Watchpoint Gibraltar, the main base for Overwatch.” The ape animatedly moved his hands, his face soon taking on an inquisitive look, “As for your last question…that’s something that I wanted to ask you about. Who is the Covenant? Or this UNSC that you’re apart of?”

Adrian scoffed, “Then your guys who brought me in weren’t the only clueless ones? This whole base is full of wackjobs huh? The Covenant are whose been kicking our ass for the last thirty years, planet to planet, we’ve lost everything. I can probably count on both hands the number of planet wide battles we’ve actually won, and they’re invading Earth RIGHT NOW. They’re forces were centered over New Mombasa but they’re everywhere and it won’t be long until this glass this planet like all the others.”

Winston sat in silence thinking on what he’d heard, he agreed with Genji’s assessment, that at the least the man in front of him believed what he was saying. But there was more to it than just that, the small glimpse of his technology, weapons, armor, was unlike anything he’d ever seen. Even the more basic things had such a different composition that it was baffling. He’d had some ideas formulating and the more he heard this man’s story the more he was sure of his idea…that this man was not of their world, perhaps not even of their universe. Of course, he’d have to run calculations and talk through it more thoroughly with Athena…but there weren’t many other possibilities. After what had happened with Lena so long ago, he’d always dedicated a bit of his research to the idea of what lies beyond, and this would fit in with his thoughts. However back to the matter at hand, this man would only believe the truth when he saw it with his own eyes.

Adrian stood in silence as the ape turned towards and computer and typed something in, a large screen appeared in the corner of the room. It showed a typical bustling city, people on their daily routine to work, but that wasn’t what caught his eye, it was the lettering in the corner, **Mombasa Streets – Live Feed / Date 06-12-2075.** Adrian stumbled back, the ape stayed silent and switched through various feeds, each showing different cities on Earth progressing as normal, as if nothing were happening. The date in the bottom never changing, it couldn’t…there was no way…the slipspace rupture. He…he hadn’t escaped it; he’d been sucked in like he thought only what had happened to him was… unexplainable.

The ape spoke up, his voice softer almost as if he understood what was happening, “Please try to understand…whatever this Covenant is or was, they’re not attacking Earth. The Covenant don’t exist.”


	2. The Long Way Back

**Watchpoint Gibraltar, Iberian Peninsula, Europe**

With those four words everything that Adrian had lived his life for fell apart around him, ‘the Covenant don’t exist”, but that couldn’t be right. He’d… he’d dedicated his whole life to eradicating those bastards and now what was left for him? But maybe this was just an isolated planet, right? Maybe they’d never heard of the Covenant, maybe it was just an extreme coincidence that it looked exactly like Earth, called itself Earth, had the same cities…he sighed. During his time as a prisoner he’d briefly entertained the thought of a similar situation like one he’d read from one of those old sci-fi novels, that he’d arrived on a different Earth in a different universe, he just never thought it might ever actually be a possibility. He was never formally educated, having joined the marines before he’d even finished high school, but being the tech specialist for his fireteam required more education than other specializations and he’d always had a knack for learning something new. The whole point of this rambling being that while he of course wasn’t an expert on slipspace, and his interest and knowledge in the translight engines was minimal at best, but it was enough to know that however far-fetched and unlikely it may have seemed…it was at least theoretically possible. The FTL system utilized by the UNSC and Covenant quite literally rip a hole in space and time to travel, its why its so dangerous, the potential consequences are unfathomable. An explanation didn’t help to calm his nerves or his heart, he could feel himself growing tense, his breathing became erratic, he sensed the overgrown ape come close to him and say some words, maybe out of pity, he wasn’t sure, but he instinctively backed up. The Covenant may not be here, this thing may not be a brute, but it still wasn’t human and there were too many unknowns. This group – Overwatch – they fought evil, but whose to say it was even telling the truth. In the eyes of the Covenant they were also fighting evil, they were the holy ones come to cleanse the galaxy of the heretical filth and while it was unlikely that this group was on a similar war path they couldn’t be trusted, especially if they were ruled by such a creature. Most importantly, this wasn’t his home, he’d had a war to fight and he’d be damned if he gave up on it, losing or not he swore he’d gave his life to fighting the Covenant and there’d be hell to pay if he was stuck as some pathetic prisoner. He’d find a way back and he’d kill every Covenant bastard he saw to make up for his time gone, no one was going to stand in his way.

His hand went for his pistol, but his holster was empty, he forgot he’d been stripped of weapons after they’d knocked him out. Adrian’s eyes darted around the room for an exit or a way out, it seemed the primate had picked up on his thoughts, he saw its body grow tense and eyes become wary. The door he came through was still guarded, but he wasn’t seeing any other way out, at the least he’d have the element of surprise on the Guard Captain, she had armor and a height advantage because of it, but she wasn’t as tall as an elite, he could take her. Eyeing a mug full of pens on the table close to him, he decided to pull the age-old trick of throwing it at the ape across from him. It would do absolutely nothing but hopefully it’d distract it for just the smallest split second for him to run, and it did. He saw its eyes leave his persons and focus on the cup, its arm coming up reflexively to block itself, Adrian used that time to dash back towards the door he’d come through. Sure, enough the woman in blue armor was there standing guard, her eyes widened in surprise as she saw it was him, she tried to bring her rifle to aim but he had the advantage. He threw a punch into her throat, she choked on the break in air and doubled over, now that she was closer to his level, he grabbed the back of her head and brought it into his knee. Disoriented she stumbled back into the railing, Adrian lucky enough to still have his armor shoulder charged her and threw her over the railing, she landed with a heavy thud into the ground, her armor denting the floor. Not having time to check if she was out cold, he picked her rifle and hopped over the railing, landing with a graceful roll next to her. An alarm started blaring in the base, the ape must’ve set it off instead of chasing after him, Adrian sprinted towards the exit with the strange rifle in hand. It was odd but easily usable, after learning how to fire Covenant weaponry with the ODST instructor he could probably find out how to fire a stick.

Stepping outside, he quickly thought about what he’d do now. If he went back to the ship, his gear was likely all taken and there’s not saying if he’d even be able to take off but staying here longer then necessary wasn’t a great idea either. Still if he left without his gear, there’s no telling what they’d be able to gleam from his helmets internal data or his drop pod, though based on the date he saw, if that was entirely true, it was unlikely they’d have the technology capable to crack it. More so he’s uncertain how much of a divergence there is between tis world and his, the talking ape was a big one but that’s beside the point. He’d try the ship, leave his gear behind, and figure everything else as he went along. Jogging outside, it’d gotten noticeably darker, the sun was only barely peaking above the horizon, though it didn’t matter much as the entire base was lit up. He heard shouting coming from the left and saw a group soldiers run out from a door, yelling orders, aiming his new weapon he fired. It curved in an arc and exploded at their feet, they were sent flying backwards and didn’t get up. He heard more shouting coming from the doorway and blindly fired into it, hopefully he’d at least slow them down. He was halfway to the ship, its ramp was still lowered and hatch open, a couple guards were standing watch by it. They noticed Adrian too late as he fired two consecutive shots at each guard, both shots went wide but still had enough explosive force to knock them out. He tried to fire one more shot behind him, but it seemed the weapon was out of ammo, he tossed it to the side as he boarded the ship. Making his way through the troop bay, he entered what seemed to be the cockpit, there was one person in there doing an instrument check. They sloppily drew a pistol from their hip, it was child’s play for Adrian to swiftly move out of the pistol’s sights to the side, he knocked the gun to the side with his armored bracer and used the same hand to grab the person’s wrist. Placing his free hand on the man’s back he pulled until he heard the pop of a dislocated shoulder and shoved the man outside. These soldiers or guards or whatever were poorly trained, their technique was sloppy, they were unprepared, and worst of all, they couldn’t control their nerves under pressure. Adrian was still erratic, his whole body was tense and nervous, but it was one of the first things they taught you in regular ole boot camp, how to keep your composure. The two he’d meet earlier, they had training and experience, but these grunts were pathetic, they’d never survive even bootcamp where he came from.

Before the door to the cockpit door closed, he swore he saw a blue light pass by him, bolted the door shut only to turn and see a woman standing there that hadn’t been before.

“What the hell…” This whole world was baffling to him, talking apes, super soldier cowboys, and now people appearing from nothing.

“Ello love, sorry but you’ve hurt enough people. I’ll be stopping you ‘ere.” A wild-haired Brunette in a bomber jacket spoke, she had a Venezian…no British accent, its doubtful any of the colonies he was familiar with existed here. Most planets and colonies had specific cultural influences, Reach was Central Europe mostly, Hungary specifically, Kroedis II before it was glassed was South American, most immigrating from the Republic of Brazil, and Venezia was largely influenced and emigrated by those in United Kingdom. Languages and cultures became tricky and complex with most planets completely dissociating from their original country of influence, but there’s better times to amble about ancestry. Adrian raised the pistol he’d taken off the guard and fired, but she’d disappeared before he’d even pull the trigger. The bullet cracked the dropship’s windshield and ricocheted back, harmlessly bounding of his chest plate. He heard a strange sound from beside him, turning he saw the woman only inches away from him. Throwing his elbow into her she disappeared once again, the room was small, and her options limited, even with her strange ability, if he had such an ability and his target was stumbling forward, he’d appear behind them. Following through with his elbow strike he twisted his body and sure enough he saw here appear where he thought she would. The strike landed across her face and he felt his armored padding dig into the skin, it didn’t stop her from teleporting again. The follow through to get her backfired when the force of his attack pulled him off-balance, his attack landed but she’d disappeared and the remaining power behind his blow carried him forward. He stumbled a bit into the side of the cockpit, he heard the thrush of air moving behind him as she teleported into place, unlike those before her it seemed she would take any chances with talking. He felt a hard blow to the back of his head and slumped to the ground, his last thoughts being why he had been knocked out twice in one damn day.

Winston watched as detachment of security personnel carried the foreigners on a stretcher with extra precautions taken. He sighed, this was all his fault, he’d hoped to slowly ease this man into this new world and reality, there were still tests and theories to run for such an unlikely possibility, but…there were too many things pointing towards this unusual event. The plan in his mind was to perhaps bring this man into the fold of Overwatch, they were still growing and could use every possible resource, especially a military man with experience in the field and with organization. It’d failed spectacularly, he’d been too focused on logic and reason to accommodate the overwhelming shock the man would be presented with, on top of that the man had taken actions into his own hand with grandiose fervor. Its clear he’d had training beyond even some of their best, luckily none had been too severely injured, whether due to the man’s own discretion or pure luck he wasn’t sure.

“What’s the plan for him now? It doesn’t seem like we can trust him or that he’ll trust us.” Winston turned, watching as Amari walked up to him, a limp in her step and nursing a nasty bruise on her face.

“I still hope that we can convince him of our cause,” At her scoff he elaborated, “B-but, for now we’ll keep him isolated in one of the jail cells. We’ll strip him of his gear and examine it all, that pod he had, maybe it holds some analytical data. That would be quite useful, and if you’re feeling up to it, I’d like you and McCree to look over his armor and weapons, in-depth, see what we can gleam from them. In the meantime, for him specifically…I’ll have Dr. Ziegler run some tests, bloodwork and the like. When he wakes up I’ll have her talk to him and if we’re lucky, maybe he’ll even consent to a physical evaluation. There’s so much I’m curious about, but that’s for the future, Angela’s always had a knack for connecting with people, hopefully this man’s no different.”

Fareeha nodded, “Alright, you know I trust you. I just want to make it clear though, my duty is to my men and this base, I won’t see them harmed again. If he can’t be reasoned with, I’m not taking another chance.”

“Uhm-well…” Winston sighed, “I understand. If…it doesn’t work out, do what you have to.”

Once again waking up in a daze, Adrian set a string of curses that would make even a sailor red. His head pounded along with his jaw, the lights felt far too bright and even the sounds of him sitting up resounded like drums in his brain. He groaned and ran a hand through his disheveled hair, his plan to escape and make his own way had failed horribly. Now he was presumably once again a prisoner, and if the look around the room told him anything, he was under even greater restrictions than before. His armor had been taken he’d been dressed in some cheap cloth clothing, plain white shirt with grey striped pants. Maybe Barbie wasn’t entirely wrong after all, sitting here in this barren room with a single bed and toilet with one wall being an entire window looking out into the other cells, he thought that maybe it really COULDN”T get any worse than this. Although the bed he was sitting on was far softer than anything he’d had in years, decades even, the only thing that came close would probably be his old been when he was a kid and shared his room with – her. Shaking his head he went back to thinking about the bed, it was unbelievably soft, especially for a military organization or one that at least seemed to exude some power. The UNSC beds could hardly even be called that, they were more like cardboard mats held up by bricks, from what he’d heard the officers had it better but only barely. That was only during active service, in-between fighting and traveling on ships, everyone got to sleep in the luxury of cryo-pods, freezer burn and all. The sound of footsteps clacking down the hall from his cell caught his ears, he turned to look at the window and saw a woman step into view, she was wearing a lab coat with her blonde hair down up, sharp yet kind blue eyes stared into his own. Speaking plainly she was stunning, he’d be lying if he said he didn’t have a thing for older women, and at any other situation he would’ve been thrilled at a chance to talk with her, but times were different and the situation difficult.

“Hello there,” She had an interesting accent, sounded like a guy he knew from New Harmony, “I’m Doctor Ziegler. I understand that everything has been a bit difficult, but I’m hoping some communication will be best for us all.” Adrian stayed silent, he had nothing to say to these people. “What if we start off with some basics, I introduced myself and I know that you Adrian Kasporov, so what about where you’re from?”

Once again, more silence, Adrian’s sight began to drift around the room.

“Okay, what if I tell you that by cooperating, we can see about getting you out of this cell. Still nothing? Mein gott, you are a stubborn one. Winston has told me to tell you, that he can help you ‘return from where you came’.”

That caught his attention, his focus shifted to Dr.Ziegler like a hawk, a chance to get back to the fighting? That would be fantastic, but what about trusting these people? He’d hear what they have to say first and go from there.

She adopted a stern face like a mother would scolding a child, “But! You must talk; we can’t help you unless you do. Is that fair?”

“Alright Doc, you’ve got yourself a deal.” Her stern face turned into a serene smile and she gave a sigh of relief, “So what did you want to talk about?”

“A small number of others and myself know of Winston’s theory about where you’re from. As ridiculous as this may sound-“

“I’m from another universe, yep I figured that a while back.”

She held a surprised expression on her face, “Oh well…that helps to pave the way for the rest of this. How…never mind we’ll get to that later if we can. For now I’d just like basics if that’s okay with you.”

Adrian shrugged, “Sure.”

“Okay, can you just briefly tell me about where you’re from? This is being recorded so feel free to go into detail. So as…you mentioned you’re apart of this UNSC? A Lance Corporal I believe? Earlier when talking to McCree, you mentioned who you served with. Could you elaborate?”

Adrian straightened up, “The UNSC stands for ‘United Nations Space Command’, it’s the military and scientific branch of the UEG, United Earth Government. History was never my strong suit, but they become the main military force a bit before the 22nd century, taking over for the UN. Though currently the UNSC have enacted emergency military control.”

“You’ve managed to unite the nations of Earth under one government? That’s…amazing! How did your people manage to do that- wait…you mentioned the 22nd century? Is then when you’re from? So far into the future?”

“Oh boy, this is gonna be a lot to unpack. This is 2075 right?” She nodded, “Where I’m from its currently 2552.”

She let out an audible gasp, “I apologize its just, this is all so fascinating. Its unprecedented that this could be or rather that it is true. Its hard to wrap my mind around.”

“How do you think I feel Doc? I got dumped right into the middle of this whole mess.”

“Is that why you ran? Tried to escape on your own?”

Adrian nodded, “For the most part, but that can be discussed later, you wanted more info on humanity. As for your earlier question, the unified government came about through a lot of wars and establishment of power, the Jovian Moon campaigns, the Rainforest wars, the mars campaign, and the suppressing of rebellion in the interplanetary wars. This is off the top of my head, can’t give any further information really.”

“You mentioned interplanetary wars, and the UNSC, you’ve achieved planetary space traveling then? And the UNSC acts as the military space force for humanity essentially?”

“Bingo, but this is all some 300 hundred years ago, by now we’ve gotta have about… a thousand colonies or more under our belt.”

The pen that Dr. Ziegler was jotting down notes with fell to the ground, “A thousand colonies but that’s…how? Even with all our technological advancements I can’t imagine us colonize so many planets, what about the distances?”

“That’s thanks to the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine, created a couple hundred years before I was alive. The specifics are far above my paygrade, but basically it works by creating these ruptures or rips in space-time. I don’t know how the science-fiction is here, but its basically works as a far cruder version of a wormhole.”

“This is fascinating, I have more I’d like to ask you about but if you don’t mind. I’d love to continue these conversations in greater depth, solely for my own interest. Though I understand if you want to decline, being a prisoner isn’t the great incentive to talk.”

Adrian thought it over, on one hand, these were people he still couldn’t trust but this Dr. Ziegler had seemed earnest enough, and its not like anything he was saying was classified. He’d learned this himself in middle school and having some friendly company here might be for the best, “Alright, I think I’d enjoy that. Anyway, what else was there that you wanted to ask?”

She gave a warming smile and looked down at her notes, Angela was quite pleased with the progress she was making with the man in front of her. She’d initially been surprised to learn that not only had McCree and Genji found a man in Africa, but that he’d managed to wound them both. That surprise had grown to horror when she’d heard the alarm raised and that the man had tried to flee, wounding several in his attempted escape. Angela had always tried to see the kindness and good in others, it what strove her to help people and become a doctor. She abhorred violence but understood that it was necessary at times, but the senseless wounded had angered her deeply. She’d jumped at the chance to see the man that had caused such destruction, she knew she was overreacting, blinded by the fact that those close to her had been injured, but still. The reality had been so much different, the man was as normal as anyone could be in this situation, he’d been nervous and uncertain about this new world and its no wonder he’d tried to escape. If anything, he was quite friendly, there was just a weariness in his eyes, he clearly wanted to be free of here as soon as possible. Flipping through he notes she had, she saw one that was started for discussion, the Covenant.

“One thing I’d like to ask you about is this other group, the Covenant. Are they a religious faction or…?” Her voice trailed off as she saw the weariness in his eyes spark with a hatred at the mere mention of that name. It piqued her curiosity, she found it odd that such a relatively young man could hold such exhaustion in his eyes but chalked it up to a new environment, but now this hatred that he showed was unlikely anything she’d seen.

“The Covenant. The Covenant are death, they bring destruction and an end to everything they touch. About thirty years ago from my time, we made contact with aliens on one of our planets, Harvest. We welcomed them with open arms and excited at the prospect of peace and greater relations, you know what they did to those hoping for harmony? Those damn aliens slaughtered them, every single person at that initial meeting. That moment would start the worst war humanities ever faced, for thirty years we’ve been fighting and for thirty years we’ve been losing. I was only two when Harvest was lost, I’ve never known a time before this war. You remember the near thousand colonies I mentioned?” She nodded, shocked at this revelation, she’d figured there been some type of war or religious fanaticism but never anything on this level. “I’d say we only have around a hundred or so colonies left.”

“Left? You mean under your control?”

“No, I mean still existing. The Covenant see humanity as a stain, a heretical cancer on their religious journey and for their journey to succeed they must wipe out humanity. They have a tendency to ‘glass’ planets, using one of their massive ships they use a weaponized beam of radiation and blast the planet with it until its uninhabitable for any kind of life. The heat and pressure turn the ground into glass, hence the name.” He sighed, its easier to fight when you don’t think about the reality. Sure, everyone knew humanity was losing and had lost so much, but its easier to just pass it off when you don’t really think about it.

“I’m…I’m so sorry. I never imagined that…anything like this could ever happen.”

“Its alright doctor, myself and just about everyone else has come to grips that we’ve lost, its more just a matter of when than if. Hell before I came to whatever universe this is, the Covenant had found Earth and were wrecking untold destruction upon the world, I was in the middle of being deployed when I ended up here.”

Silence filled their conversation before Angela spoke up again, unsure of where to go from here.

“I… Uhm…have one more question and then I’ll talk to Winston about your freedom and what the future holds. In this war, where do you fit in? Your armor, weapons, that pod, they’re unlike anything we’ve ever seen.”

“Ah, right. I’ve explained to cowpoke that I’m of the 5th Shock Troops Battalion of the 105th Expeditionary Unit. The 105th is a special operations unit, specifically dealing with ODST, which is what I am. ODSTs are Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, helljumpers are what we affectionately call ourselves. Essentially, we’re deployed from ships in orbit via these drop pods, with minimal brakes we reach the ground as soon as possible. We preform the missions that are too dangerous for the regular marines to undertake, we’re specialized in counterterrorism, personal recovery, unconventional warfare such as guerilla warfare, subversion, sabotage, and intelligence gathering. Our weapons standard ammunition is extremely lethal, its meant to destroy enemy shields and heavily armed targets, so we often utilize larger armor-piercing rounds. The specific armor composition is classified and beyond my knowledge, but the general idea is that it’s made of several layered sheets of composite titanium and specifically crafted to survive hazardous environments. Its even created to be able to function in the vacuum of space. “

“That both amazing and terrifyingly dangerous.” She let herself have a small laugh at the absurdity of it all, what they did seemed near suicidal, in fact it was downright suicidal.

Adrian gave a chuckle at that, “Well our motto is feet first into hell. You have to have already had previous experience in the military and proved yourself worthy to become an ODST, then you have to go through another round of the most rigorous and dangerous training in existence just to be accepted. Its so uncommon to have deaths in the training.”

“But is that the opposite of what your army needs? Shouldn’t you be gathering as many men as possible to combat the Covenant?”

“I appreciate your concern, but the weak have no business in the ODSTs. Nothing I tell you about the Covenant can convey how brutal and relentless they are, ODSTs are the best of the best. I’m not arguing about any macho bullshit about weakness, what I am saying is that the only way humanity can ever hope to even slow the tide of the Covenant is to do what is absolutely necessary no matter the cost. My helmet, as do most other UNSC helmets, has a storage chip that records various amounts of data, including a visual feed. I’m a tech specialist, I can rig my helmet to work with your technology, I’ll show you all the horrors the Covenant have inflicted in the last thirteen years I’ve been serving.”

Angela was surprised at how quick his carefree demeanor had turned to one of cold detachment, but she was curious about the video he said he could show. Any further information he could give on his experiences would only serve to help her case to have him freed, hopefully it would serve to show that he could be useful to Overwatch. For now it’s impossible to tell how truthful Adrian was being with her, but his emotions were sincere, in her mind it left no room to doubt what he had said.

“Thank you very much for your cooperation Mr. Kasporov, I look forward to our conversations when you’re free.” She gave a kind smile and left, leaving Adrian alone once more in his thoughts. He laid back onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling, initially he hadn’t planned to say so much, but after hearing the cluelessness of everyone here regarding the war it had almost felt insulting. All the billions that had died, the friends he’s lost, the family he once had, for them to simply not exist here…it felt wrong. While talking to Dr. Ziegler, he felt compelled to tell his story, maybe that’s on more reason why he accepted her invitation to talk, but most importantly, he was offered a chance to return to his world and fight till the end. If he had to work with some half-breed brute look-a-like then so be it, he wouldn’t like it but he’d do whatever was necessary to get back home.


	3. A Foundation of Trust

**Watchpoint Gibraltar, Iberian Peninsula, Europe**

_“-I’ll show you all the horrors the Covenant have inflicted in the last thirteen years I’ve been serving.”_ With that the video interview ended, leaving the room in a stunned silence. Winston turned to face the main heroes of Overwatch; he’d only brought a few he could truly trust into this room. He appreciated the sacrifice each and every person in Overwatch was making simply by associating with them, but with the unique circumstances they’d found themselves in, he’d rather keep unnecessary speculation to a minimum.

“Aye so he’s told a sad tale, but how can we believe him, let alone trust him?” Torbjorn spoke up, he’d always been a gruff old cynic, so his skepticism and doubt were nothing new. Winston technically had the power to enforce whatever he deemed fit as the ‘leader’ of Overwatch, but it wouldn’t be right to those he serves with. He wanted them to understand his actions, to see why he felt it was necessary to bring this unknown into the fold.

“I understand your doubt my friend I truly do, however we have no reason to believe that he is telling anything other the truth. He had an understanding that he came from a different universe before we presented the idea to him, that’s something I’ll discuss further with him if possible. He also mentioned that his helmet stored visual data and he’d be willing to show it once he was freed. On top of that his armor and weapons have never been manufactured or even prototyped in our world, there was also something of note that Amari found while analyzing his armor.” He reached to the side and grabbed a large cloth object, Winston unfolded it and laid it upon the conference table for all to see. It was a battered and heavily worn flag; it was crimson red with golden embroidery in the shape of the ‘drop pod’ that Kasporov discussed. In the center was a flaming red skull and under the were the words ‘ODST’, Kasporov’s unit was presumably the numbers at the top of the flag.

“If this was all some elaborate joke then kudos to him, but the amount of information we have on the contrary shows that he is in fact telling the truth.” Torbjorn grunted in dissatisfaction but said nothing more.

“I didn’t just gather you in here to discuss the validity of his claims, rather I gathered you in here to propose the idea that this Adrian Kasporov join us in our fight against Talon.” At that the small group of heroes grumbled and objected.

“Listen boss, I trust you, I don’t however trust him. Nuttin against him personally, but he has no reason to fight for us and its clear he wants to be here as much as cat in water.” McCree objected.

“I know he is a wildcard, but as you said he wants to leave, and I feel we can use that to our advantage. I’ve already been looking into this after Lena’s accident and I have a decent amount of progress, but with his knowledge of his own world’s technology, that progress could increase exponentially! I offer that we make a deal with him, we lend him our aid to help him return home and allow him to live here, in return he helps with operations or lends us some of the information on the technology form his own universe. If we want him to trust us, we have to show him that he has a reason too and I believe this would be the way to secure his help.”

“Ehh I don’t know about this; my men are more than capable of taking on Talon. Why do we need some outsider?” Amari voiced, she’d always cared deeply for those under her command, he was expecting to have some resistance from her.

“Your soldiers are capable yes, but Overwatch is still small. We need manpower, you know as much as I do. Kasporov has the experience and training to be an invaluable asset, think of it this way, for every mission that Kasporov goes on, that’s one less situation in which your men have to risk their lives.” Fareeha sighed and nodded in agreement.

“Then we’re in agreement! I won’t however simply let him run unwatched, I’ll have Athena keep constant surveillance and alert us to any unusual activity. For now, I’d like him released from his cell and his gear given back, his weapons however will stay locked in the armory until the first mission. Fareeha if you could get one of your men to escort him here, I’d like to discuss our proposal.” Winston just hoped he was doing the right thing by bringing Adrian in.

Putting on his ODST armor had been like being embraced by a close friend, it was a practically a second skin for him and being stripped of it and made him feel naked. Feeling under his chest plate he could feel the cloth flag between his fingertips, he breathed a sigh of relief. It turns out that Dr. Ziegler hadn’t been lying after all, not long after she left he had passed out from exhaustion and when he woke the next day he was freed, his gear returned, and he was summoned to meet with ‘Winston’. His escort had tersely explained that Winston was in fact the ape he had meet earlier, he had his suspicions, but it was good to know the specifics. Walking into the same room he’d tried to escape from just a day before had felt strange, at the far end of the room was the massive ape, Winston. When it saw he had come it did its primate waddle over to him and stuck out a hand, “Ah Kasporov, it’s a pleasure to be officially acquainted.” Adrian involuntarily shuttered but managed to keep a look of disgust off his face, he simply stared at the outstretched hand until Winston awkwardly retracted it.

“Well uhmm- uh let’s get straight down to business then?”

“By all means. I am curious as to what bought me my freedom.”

Winston walked around the table and up to the computer screen pulling up a map f the world marked with red dots.

“I believe Dr. Ziegler discussed returning you home and that was no lie, I will devote all the power at my disposable to returning you to where you came from.” Adrian gave a sigh of relief, that was the best new he’d heard in a while, though he wasn’t expecting this to be done out of pure kindness, “However we are in a bit of a tight situation, there is a terrorist group known as Talon. They’re main goal is to create conflict and turmoil across the globe, they have money, power, and overwhelming force which is where we come in. Our job is top stop them from terrorizing the planet, these red dots are all areas where they’ve ben sighted or have been operating from. We would like you to help fight this organization Adrian, I understand that you have no connection to this world but every day innocents are harmed by their actions. In a more pragmatic sense however, by helping us you help Overwatch expand and grow, growth will help me gather more supplies and information to send you home faster. What I am proposing is that we help each other for your benefit and the benefit of mankind.”

Adrian had been expecting a far worse deal, this plan wasn’t bad at all. This Talon organization, they seemed like a truly despicable group, harming the benefits for what gain? It was all just senseless violence, he witnessed enough of that back home to be disgusted by the mere thought of it. He knew it wouldn’t be easy to send him back home, it was an inevitability, but being able to actually do something instead of just sitting around with his thumbs up his ass was something that had actually made this deal all the more enticing to him.

“Alright, you’ve got yourself a deal.”

“Really? I mean great, great! Right now, I don’t have any assignments but you’re free to explore the base or simply relax. You’ve been given your own room in the crew quarters, use it as you see fit. I’ll send an alert to you when something comes up.”

With that Adrian had secured a plan to make his way back to the real Earth, his Earth. He left the room and went to explore the base, more importantly see what his own room was like, that was something that only officers had in the UNSC.

Ignoring the obvious stares of distaste from some of the Overwatch personnel, he’d managed to find the crew quarters easily enough. Many of the doors were decorated in some way, likely by the occupants to help make it more their own, he noticed one door that was covered in pink cat stickers and vibrant decorations, the nameplate next to it had ‘Song’ written on it. Granted he’d only met a very small number of the people on base, but this one still seemed very out of place compared to the others. He ignored it and walked to the middle of the hall where he saw a plain door with his name on the plate next to it, opening the sliding door he walked into the room. It was a very spartan bedroom, a wide bed in the corner and a desk with a computer opposite of it, plain but far more than he’d ever had in the service, perfect for him. There a door in corner across the bed, opening it up revealed a small bathroom with a shower and toilet.

“Holy shit…” He muttered to himself, this was feeling more like a hotel than any military base. Walking up to the shower he wondered if they’d have it, they had so much other unnecessary shit why not. He turned the handle and…they did. These motherfuckers had easily accessible hot water, on the ground it was such a luxury that all hot water was used for cooking, aboard ships all the water was set to barely lukewarm and would only last a couple minutes. He laughed to himself and furiously began to strip the armor he’d been so eager to put only on just an hour ago. He turned the handle of the shower until steam as rising from the floor, throwing his armor onto the bed, he stepped into the shower embracing the scalding water. Weeks of built up grime turned the water a sickly brown as it flowed down the drain, the exhaustion he’d built up had practically melted away in the flow of the water. Resting his head against the wall, he wasn’t sure how long he just stood there enjoying the reprieve. A resounding knock stir him from his stupor, stepping out of the shower he took a towel from the rack and wrapped it around his waist. He wasn’t sure who’d want to talk with him but was surprised to see the armored man from earlier when the door slid open.

“Forgive me, I was unaware you were preoccupied.” Said the synthesized voice as it turned to leave. Adrian was unsure of how to proceed; on one hand this was one of the men that had originally apprehended him and ODST’s were particularly well known for socializing with non-ODSTs, though on the other hand he couldn’t be sure how long he would be here and at the least making a friendly acquaintance wouldn’t hurt.

“No you’re fine, I was just getting out. Is…there something you wanted?”

“I came to introduce myself, if we are to work together, cooperation is key. I am Genji Shimada.” He gave a light bow.

“Adrian Kasporov. I guess I aught to apologize for stabbing you.” Adrian gave a non-committal shrug; he didn’t feel any guilt over it but that wouldn’t help him here.

“No apologies are necessary, we each did what we had to. Your technique is unusual but effective.” Genji gave a light laugh.

“Don’t sell yourself short, you’ve got a hell of an uppercut.” They chuckled together and Adrian found himself rather enjoying the company of this Genji. A strange outfit to be sure, but his demeanor was rather calming, polite but not obnoxiously so.

“Would you care for some tea? I find it’s quite relaxing in uncertain times.”

“Sure why not, I’ve always preferred tea to coffee.”

Their time spent together was as Genji had said, for all the insanity that Adrian had dealt with in the past twenty-four hours, a time of small talk and relaxing had been a refreshing change of pace. It a had also allowed Adrian to understand a bit more of the world he now found himself in, the biggest players aside from Overwatch and Talon had been the Omnics, a group of sentient machines that faced discrimination around most of the globe for simply existing. According to Genji, technology had taken a different path, notably in the form of ‘Hard-Light’ technology. It was some radical advancement that was created by the Vishkar Corporation, it reminded him a bit of Misriah Armony being a singular company that controlled such a vital aspect of technology. In return Adrian had shared a bit of the more mundane aspects of his world, the space elevators, the insurrections, and the worlds he’s visited. Genji in particular was interested in hearing of the various colonies that humanity had, to Adrian they’d just been a part of his everyday life but to these people space flight was still relatively in its infancy.

“Mr. Shimada and Mr. Kasporov, I apologize for the interruption, but I have been told to inform that a mission has arisen which needs your immediate action. You two are to meet Ms. Oxton in hangar in five minutes, Mr. Kasporov you are required to go to the armory to retrieve your weapons.” At Adrian’s questioning look, Genji explained that Athena was the bases A.I, he would often provide intel support for those in the field as well. Heading back to his room he donned his armor, looking at his helmet he saw his reflection in the visor, a weathered and aged man whose eyes looked far older than one of twenty-nine. He sighed, running his hand across the visor he flipped it and put in on, hearing the helmet seal to the suit his familiar H.U.D booted up. A different world he may be in, but at least he’d had some bits of home with him, and now he’d be going back into the fray.


	4. The Allure of the Unknown

**Berlin, Germany, Europe**

Adrian stared out the open hatch of the dropship, which he’d learned was appropriately named the MV-261 Orca for the massive ship. The city skylines zipped beneath him in the warm glow of the sun, the quietness was almost unnerving for him, having gone through more cities in ruins than still intact, it was odd to see a massive city in all its entirety not in the middle of an invasion. The urgent mission he was called for required a less obvious approach, hence why he was brought along so soon, of the couple other members of Overwatch he’d met, subtlety was not their strong suite. According to Lena Oxton, the teleporting Brit, Overwatch had a wide net for intel and many undercover operatives that kept tabs on pieces of interest. One of these was a research facility looking into some classified material, Talon had caught wind of the tech and wanted it for themselves. Unfortunately, bad timing meant that an employee had seen their break-in and now the whole situation had developed into a hostage crisis, with the Talon agents leveraging the hostages against the cops to buy them time to get the tech. Though this whole crisis brought one idea to his mind…

“So why are we sneaking into this?” Lena turned to him; he still wasn’t sure where he stood with her but it obviously wasn’t very high.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I get talking a subtle approach, but shouldn’t we be working with the cops? Coordinating? Why aren’t there more of us helping out on the ground?”

Lena gave an exasperated sigh, “Because we can’t! Overwatch isn’t an official entity right now.”

That was news to him, from the technology and the base, it was clearly understaffed but he’d assumed it was a private military or a newly opened division, “Hold on, what the hell do you mean this isn’t ‘official’?”

“Overwatch was disbanded years ago, now we’re trying to get back together to fight the growing Talon threat. The problem is that many governments are too keen on an independent group operating across the globe, hence the secrecy and lack of support.”

“Jesus fucking christ, what have I stepped into.”

The comms speaker blared, _“Alright, I’m just about to pass over the roof, get ready to hit the ground.”_

The Orca momentarily slowed down, pulling a light turn as Adrian saw it fly several meters off the ground of a building. He saw Oxton hop out and do her…teleporting trick to land safely on the ground. Following without any of the fancy tricks, he jumped out and landed with a well-practiced roll, spreading the force of the impact throughout his body. Brining himself to a cruch and drawing his silenced M7S submachine gun, he watched as the Orca blasted from the rooftop and into the clouds. There’s no way anybody didn’t see that, but it wouldn’t matter much anyway, the cops wouldn’t risk coming in with the hostages and Talon was probably too focused on getting their tech to notice anything else. Breaking into a sprint he brought himself flat against wall to the side of the door and waited for Genji and Lena.

“We know that Talon is occupying the top three floors of this building, the first and last of those three floors are where they’re holding the hostages to act as human shields if the cops decide to break in. The tech we want is in-between those three floors, I say we work together to clear this top floor, after that it won’t be long until the others realize that something is wrong. Oxton, Genji, you should take the bottom floor and free the hostages, I’ll take the middle floor and secure whatever they’re trying to steal.”

“Hold up there mate, who said anything about putting you in-charge?”

“I agree with Kasporov’s assessment. He is a tech specialist and has the most experience with such situations. If Talon tries to escape with the tech, they won’t be able to go any lower because of us, so we’d push him to the open roof.”

Adrian gave an affirming nod, at least someone here had some tactical sense. He opened the door and crack and peaked in with his submachine gun, checking the corners and moving in he motioned for the others to follow him down the stairs.

“Alright we’ll follow you. Just try not to mess this up, lives are at stake.”

They reached the entrance to the top floor, he turned to Lena, he understood her skepticism, he always had the same feelings when he’d had to work with a non-ODST group, but the Covenant made sure that everyone knew it wasn’t personal feelings, “Exactly, that’s why you and Genji are handling them. You two have history, you understand each other’s moves, I’m an outsider to this group.”

Slowly opening the door, he inched on through, the movement-detection system in his helmet would let him know if people were walking by, but what if someone was on their smoke break by the door? That’s why its always important to check corners, and for now its better than Overwatch knew less about his capabilities as possible. He had no problem with the broad strokes of his universe’s technology, but there were still a lot of unknowns about this world and the less impact he had the better. Splitting up, he took the hallway directly to the right from the door they’d left. They’d looked at a layout of the building previously, the staircase to the roof was separate from the main staircase for the rest of the building, he also knew that following this hallway would wrap around the entire floor. This floor was mainly personal offices, but there was one large conference room at the end of the hall, they each clear a the hallway they were in and check the side offices so as to not get surprised when they made a push on the conference room.

Pushing open the first few doors, they were all empty, he heard a series of footsteps coming from around the corner of the hallway. Ducking into the nearest empty office he pressed himself against the doorway and waited for them Talon mercs to pass. His radar picked them up, appearing as two yellow dots, he watched as they got close enough so he could hear their conversation. When they passed, he popped out of the door and let off two quicks bursts from his submachine gun into their backs, the full metal rounds tearing through their light armor with ease. Their bodies fell to the ground with a dull thump, leaving them behind he continued to check offices until he was nearing the end. Adrian was about to open the door when his motion-detector popped a target right in front of him, tempted to simply fire through the door he had to remind himself this was a hostage situation. It was unlikely, but there was a chance that a hostage had been lucky enough to avoid being found and had taken refuge in one of these side rooms. Cracking the door he peaked in, there was no merc waiting in the room but there was also no hostage either, he took a sweep of the room when he heard a sound from his left. Flicking to the side he saw nothing but noticed the large wooden desk in the corner, the pieces fell into pace as he slowly makes his way over it. It was unlikely that a merc was cowering under a desk and it would only jeopardize the mission if the hostage yelled, so he decided to risk it. In a hushed whisper he spoke, “I know you’re there its…the police. We’re here to rescue you.” When nothing happened, he spoke again, “Look if I already know you’re in here, if I wanted you dead I’d already have done it.” At that a young man with dirty blonde hair crawled out from under the desk, he was wearing a lab coat, maybe he was one of the scientists working here.

“Oh thank god, I thought I was dead for sure.”

“You’re safe now, but I’ll need you to stay here until you here the police come.”

“Wait…I thought you were the police?”

“Never mind that, just wait here alright. There’s still more Talon mercs outside, do you know if there’s another way into that conference room?”

“Uhmm…aaa…. yeah…yeah there is! There’s a ventilation system that runs throughout the building in case of chemical spills, it should be large enough for a person to fit through. There’s an entrance hatch in the janitors closet the next room over.”

“Nice job kid.” He turned to leave but the hostage called out in a whispered tone.

“Wait, please, after the hostages on this floor are freed, can you find my fiancée Sarah? She was taken away from the everyone else and brought to a lower floor. She’s the operations director, I think they wanted her open up the restricted access” That stopped him in his tracks, a hostage on his floor would complicate things, throwing in a human shield would make his job that much harder.

“I’ll do what I can.” With that he left the man and check the last few rooms before making his way into the janitor’s closet, he saw the maintenance hatch on the opposite side of the room and pried it open. Crouching into it he radioed the others, “Its Kasporov, I’ve found a ventilation shaft into the conference room. I can get behind them and take out one or two, but I’ll need you guys to act fast and take care of the others.” A series of affirmatives answered him. When he found himself at the conference room vent, he quietly began to ply off the crate and pulled it into the vent with him. He walked up a small incline to get here, now he was a couple meters off the ground near the ceiling. He counted four Talon mercs, all facing the glass side of the conference room leaving him in their blind side. Two of them were close together in the center closest to him, the other two were on the far ends, he’d leave those two for Genji and Oxton. Slowly creeping out of the vent, he grabbed onto the edge and stealthily lowered himself to the ground. Landing practically without a sound he holstered his submachine gun and drew his knife, the close proximity of the two guards to each other would make guns a hassle to use. He couldn’t see either of his teammates, but he’d have to trust they wouldn’t let him down. Crouching behind the first man, he brought his blade across the back of the man’s ankles, severing the tendons in a splash of blood, his body began to crumple in pain but he didn’t even have time to scream before Adrian jammed his knife into the man’s neck, silencing him completely. His partner however heard the brief commotion and turned to look, only to see Adrian rip his knife out of the first man’s throat and bring is across the second man’s neck in a swift movement. As soon as his knife slid across the second man’s skin, he heard the glass of the conference shatter with the force of Genji and Oxton breaking in. Genji had thrown a handful of shurikens into the man’s body while Oxton had teleported behind the man and fired off a quick burst from her dual pistols. The man in front of Adrian aimlessly grasped as his throat, gurgling as he choked on his own, eventually falling to the ground with a pitiful suffocation.

Back home, it had always been an odd feeling to be dealing with militias and insurrectionists, not to say he had qualms about it but more so that if felt so pointless in the grand scheme of everything that was happening around them. He’d never argue that the UNSC was perfect, but for the insurrectionists to keep fighting humanity instead of banding together to fight the Covenant was pathetic. They had a common enemy, a threat that applied to them all, the insurrectionists freedom wouldn’t matter if the Covenant were just going to glass their entire planet anyway. This thought was especially prevalent when he’d be rerouted from a mission to deal with some damn innies, instead of fighting with his brothers against the covvies, he’d be elsewhere fighting fucking humans, the very people he was also trying to save.

He shook himself from his thoughts and back to reality, to the hostage crisis. He looked over to see Lena using her bubbly personality to assure everyone that they were safe now and to stay here until the police arrived. Stepping around the corpses of the mercs, he flicked the blood off his blade and wiped the rest off it of on his armor.

“Times tickin’ Oxton, we gotta get a move on.” She nodded and left the crowd, they made their way to the staircase and headed down to their respective floors.

“Alright, just remember that the police will move in as soon as the terrorists on the first floor are taken care of. We have to be out of here by they time they reach these floors.” Adrian nodded and split from the duo, walking into the new area he saw that it was far different from the floor above. This looked like it was entirely a research area, the plus side is that so much of the walls were glass it was easy to see Talon on the opposite side of the room, ducking down he hid behind the waist high wall, the double-edged sword however was that they’d also be able to see him easily. He’d have to play this smart and fast if he didn’t want to be stuck here with the police. He made his way from wall to wall, staying out of sight below the glass, constantly being reminded that he was on a time limit he couldn’t see, lucky for him ODST’s thrived on working under pressure. If anything, the stakes only made him work better. He was nearing the Talon group when he begun to overhear an argument, peaking around the corner he saw a red-headed woman in a similar lab coat to the one the other hostages were wearing, she must be the operations director, Sarah. There was a total of four mercs, the one arguing with Sarah and three others standing off the side.

“Just keep your god damn eye open you stupid bitch! We can’t access the vault unless we get the retinal scan, this would all go a lot easier if you’d stop closing your fucking eye!” The lead merc growled, he’d had shaggy hair and sported a nasty set of scars across his mug, he grabbed the woman by the face and turned her to face him, staring directly into his yes.

“Piss off,” Adrian couldn’t help but chuckle with respect when she spat out the thickest glob of spit he’d ever seen, she would've fit right in with the ODSTs.

The merc wiped it off with a growl, “Oh that’s it you fucking whore, you want don’t want to make it easy? That’s fine with me, I’ll just be having myself a lot more fun.” He drew knife from his belt, “Anthony, hold her head in place. If she doesn’t want to cooperate, we’ll just carve her eye out.”

Without anytime to think, Adrian stood up from behind his corner and unleashed a hail of controlled bursts at the terrorists, the first man went down like a bag of cement. The second had taken a burst to the gut and slid down the wall, leaving a dark red smear behind him as he went. The last two had reflexes quick enough to get out of the way, the lead merc threw Sarah too the ground and they took cover behind a pair of columns. The leader fired a burst from his submachine gun, Adrian rolled out of the way but felt a few bullets hit his breastplate. He motioned for Sarah to make her way towards him as he laid down covering fire from his M7S, he meets her halfway and used his body to shield her. His composite titanium was built to withstand plasma, granted it would melt over your body and burn like hell, but technically it would still be together, so glancing shots from small weapons fire wouldn’t do much on the armored sections of his body. Bringing her around the corner, he fired at the third goon whose foot was barely peaking from his column. The FMJ bullets caused his foot to erupt in a shower of blood and bones, the man stumbled forward with a yelp, straight into Adrian’s crosshairs. He let loose another few shots, the rounds connected with the man’s skull, an eruption of brain and blood coming from the exit wound.

The last merc swore under his breath, he hadn’t been expecting so much shit to go wrong. First what was supposed to be a quick job turned into a hostage situation because some dumb fucking egghead came on his day off to check some god damn data. Then someone triggered the alarms, alerting not just the cops, but whatever the fuck this guy was, fucking hell was he special ops? He’d never seen anything like him, for a brief second he thought the guy might’ve been some new Talon operative, but no one he’d seen had operated with such a cold efficiency. Even Reaper was just pure animalistic rage, with Widowmaker being like a cat teasing her prey, nothing he’d ever seen came close to this guy.

Adrian gestured for Sarah to stay put, he inched out of the corner and put his back against the wall, just out of sight of the last Talon mercenary. With quick efficiency he slid across the wall and pulled out his M6C sidearm, crouching down he pushed himself against the opposite side of the column the merc was hiding behind. Putting his pistol into his left hand, he slowly peered around the edge fired twice into the unsuspecting man’s gut. The leader stumbled back in surprised as Adrian fully unveiled him from the corner, Adrian fired a single clean shot to the man’s head. He stumbled back and ungracefully landed in a pile of tangled limbs, Adrian turned back to where he’d had the civilian hide and walked back to her.

“It’s alright ma’am, you’re safe now but we need to get a move on.” He gently pulled her up by the elbow as she nodded, “Your fiancée is safe on the floor, I personally met with him, but first I need you to open up that vault. Whatever Talon wanted you know they’ll be back for; I can keep it safe and stop them from ever harming you or your fiancée again.”

“Ye-Yes…you’re right. Okay I’ll help you; the vault has several passcodes but they’d managed to hack through most of them. The final one is what stopped them in their track, it needs a retinal scan of an authorized member, I was the only one here today with high enough clearance to access it.” She said as they walked past the corpses, she bent just a bit and placed her eye in front of a tiny monitors next to the door. Air whooshed past them as the massive vault door cracked open, the sound of straining hydraulics echoed throughout the lab as the entrance creaked open to reveal a blindingly white room. It was entirely empty save a single pedestal in the center, on top of the pedestal was a rather small object, more like a fragment than anything else. The closer he got the more unusual it seemed, aside from the fact he’d barely been here over a day, this piece still looked unlike anything he’d seen here. Visually it was almost indescribable, yet it held a familiarity to him, he felt himself eerily drawn to it, the only way he could describe this feeling was uncanny. He turned towards the woman, “What is this? It’s unlike anything I’ve seen here.”

She looked reluctant to speak, “Well…It be more apt to say we never created or invented it, but rather we found it.”

He circled the pedestal, “You found it?”

“Yes, about a week ago it was uncovered at a mining site, it was initially just considered trash, but the it was doused in massive amounts of radiation. The Geiger counters went berserk, further inspection shows that its actually technological in nature, we just aren’t sure what. The radiation fell almost immediately after moving it here, but its still war too little for us to do anything with. We’ve kept it here while we reach out to other institutions to come and look at to, well that was the plan until today.”

Adrian shook his head, there’d be time for study he was stick on the clock and time was running out. Smashing the glass with his elbow pad and grabbed the fragment, just as he was putting the tiny fragment into a chest pouch, he saw a black mist rolling in from the ceiling outside the vault. The mist began to swirl and twist, taking on a humanoid shape, eventually it seemed to solidify itself into a man – though the term man was pushing it. It seemed more like the god damn grim reaper, it’s voice even lent itself to this ethereal being, gruff and synthesized with a touch of what he could only describe as ‘dread’, “You, will give that to me and your death will be painless. Resist, and I will relish in breaking every bone in your body.” They circled each other as Adrian subtlety motioned with his hand for Sarah to run.

Adrian could only stare in disbelief, once again uttering a phrase that was becoming more and more common the longer, he spent here, “What the fuck.” Mist poured forth from the thing’s body, warping into the shape of guns aimed right at him. Not leaving Adrian a second to react, the grim reaper fired one of its shotguns nailing Adrian right in his chest plate, it sent him flying across the vault and out into the lab. Struggling to stand up, each step caused a wave of pain in his chest, the blast had probably fractured some of his ribs. Realizing that he was out of his elements with time running out, he dashed towards the stairwell, blindly firing his pistol behind him. Darkness enveloped his legs as he watched the shadowy haze swish past his legs, looking up he saw the smoke reform once more into the grim reaper.

It reached out clawed hand, wrapping itself around Adrian neck it slammed him into the wall, “Give me the PIECE!” He bellowed, its voice sound hoarse and haggard, rage laced with every word it spoke.

“God damn your breath fucking smells. You want a mint big guy?” It yelled in fury while tossing Adrian to the ground, it stepped on his arm and he could feel the force coming close to breaking his arm. A pierced gauntlet came down to his body, running it ways from his neck to his chest, it grabbed the pouch. The grim reaper opened the pouch and turned it upside down over his hand only for finely crushed bits to come floating out like dust. Clearly infuriated, it let off a roar unlike anything he’d ever heard of.

“Looks like you got a little too rough, maybe lay off being so handsy next time.” Adrian could feel the pressure on his arm lessening just slightly, using this brief moment he pulled the knife from its sheath and stabbed it into the being’s leg, unsure if this haze could actually be harmed. It seemed to work well enough as it let off a pained roared, stabbing once more for certainty, Adrian heaved the reaper off and dashed for the door. It seemed that he’d lost it, but the more likely reason was that it’d simply lost what it came for in the first place. Hauling himself up the stairs, he burst out of the main stairwell into the top floor, he yells of surprise he turned to see police in SWAT gear at the end of the hall with the hostages. Swearing himself he ran down the hall to the rooftop entrance and tired to get in touch with Genji or Oxton.

“Where the bloody hell have you been?! We’ve been trying to reach you for the past ten minutes; the police have already started making their way to the top floor.”

“I was a little fucking preoccupied, I’m just entering the stairwell to the roof.”

“We’ll be there mate, just don’t be late.”

Adrian stomped his way up the final staircase, as soon as he was opening the door to the roof, he could hear the door below him burst open with SWAT. Dashing to the edge of the roof he heard the Orca engines coming in from behind him, soon it flew down into his vision and waited at the edge of the building. The door behind him was kicked open, police poured out calling for him to stop, he pushed himself even more and jumped off the edge of the building. His chest slammed into the floor of the dropship, he desperately tried to get a grip on the floor as he felt himself slipping with the dropship beginning to move. A firm grip on his arm stopped him from moving, he looked up to see Genji standing there, “Thank Christ, I never thought I’d almost die from something so pathetic.”

“Your time is not yet, there is much you must do.” Genji spoke as he hauled Adrian up into the troop bay, the hatch closing behind him.

“You damn wanker, do you know how close you were pushing it?” Lena gave an exasperated sigh, “It wouldn’t be a good look if you died on your first mission.”

“Yeah well, I ran into some trouble, you know anything about a fucking grim reaper?”

“You ran into Reaper? It’s no surprise that he was here, he’s one of Talon’s big players and extremely dangerous.”

“Yeah, I got some first hand experience,” Adrian sat down with a grimace, his ribs were definitely fractured, one of them may have even been broken, “Also…did either of you know anything specific about the tech they wanted? It was destroyed in the fight – but I was just curious.” Both of them shook their heads, leaving him more questions about why it had seemed so familiar, what the hell made it so important?


	5. Home Sweet Home

**Skies over Europe**

Laying on his back, stretched out over the seats he couldn’t stop thinking about the fragment he’d lost. Why had it seemed so familiar? Thoughts of it being Covenant had crossed his mind, but it didn’t seem like any of their technology, nor did it have the distinctive coloring, this is of course all ignoring the fact that it would be ridiculous for the Covenant to be here at all. He was here yes, but his own arrival here was improbable enough, one time didn’t set a trend, only served as an exception to the norm. But…what if the Covenant were here? At the least it would be a very small amount, otherwise they would’ve tried to conquer Earth…again. What if the he wasn’t the only one that went through that slipspace rupture and came out on this end. Could his squad be here too? Anger and confusion welled up within him, there was just too many things going on that were out of his control, that he couldn’t know. Thinking on it, he had a lot to do when he got back to base, enough to keep his mind occupied for a decent while: patch up his ribs, talk to the ape about getting back home/how he got here, repair his armor, check his helmet’s internal data, and most immediately important, getting a read out on the ammo situation. It seemed that they largely used typical gunpowder-based weapons, the only caveat being that UNSC weapons and ammo are a far cry from normal at this period in time, it would seem rather self-explanatory but the ammo is specifically catered to the unique style of UNSC weaponry.

Take the M7S caseless submachine gun, it doesn’t have an ejection port specifically because the ammo does away with the typical conventions of brass casing and instead relies on a disintegrating polymer, add on top of the fact that the ammo isn’t simply caseless but full metal jacket as well, and its bound to cause problems for any inexperienced weapons manufacturer. He’s sure that some form exists in this world, but the question is have they overcome the early hurdles for easy production, his M7S simply would not be able to use any other ammunition because of the lack of an ejection port. Then his battle rifle posed an entirely other problem, made specifically to combat heavily armored and shielded Covenant, the rounds for the typical battle rifle are absolutely fucking powerful, and for all intents and purposes, still considered ‘experimental’ by the UNSC, just another challenge for him to deal with. In the end he’d probably see if the ape had any ideas for what he could do, wouldn’t be useful if he’s not properly outfitted. Staring at the ceiling of the drop ship, his eyes began to drop and before he knew it, he was falling into the alluring abyss of sleep.

…

…

…

**_“You were never good enough to save her, you fight them not because you hope to win but because you hope to die.”_ **

Adrian’s woke with a start, his breathing was ragged and heavy, the deeper gulps he tried to tale the more suffocating he began to feel, ripping off his helmet he took a massive mouthful of fresh air. Wiping his hand over his sweaty face, he ran a hand through his soaking hair, it was only then that he realized he was being watched. Looking to the opening of the drop ship he saw Dr. Ziegler standing there, a pitying expression on her face, it seemed that they’d already landed, and he’d simply been here wasting away.

“Can I help you Dr. Ziegler?” His words laced with an underlying anger. He was never a particularly pleasant person after nightmares and he despised being pitied, what he really needed was a cigarette. Opening a zipper on his shoulder he pulled out a crumpled box of cigarettes and zippo lighter, placing it in his mouth he lit and took a long drag. Calling himself a smoker would be like calling the Covenant merciful, if one looked at it in the most obtuse and fucking pedantic way, then sure he was a smoker. It’d never been much a habit he picked up, though it’s not like you can spend thirteen years in a literal hell and not pick up smoking, its cheap, easy to ship, and the nicotine can be the only keeping you from jumping in front of the next wraith you see.

“Well originally I’d come to check up on you, but now it seems like I’ll have to lecture you about your smoking habits.” She gave a polite smile.

“Thanks for the concern Doc, but if I live long enough to see long cancer take me then I’d consider that a miracle.” He snarked back.

Her polite smile faltered a bit before she remembered the original reason she was there, “I’d gotten word ahead of time that you had rather…eventful encounter with Reaper and sustained some injuries. Aside from caring for your injuries I’m also required to give you a physical examination, its standard for all members but it seems in the excitement of your arrival it was overlooked.”

Adrian gingerly got up, at their mention his ribs feeling more tender than ever, “Just as long as you don’t snap your gloves on.” He grimaced, “Jesus mother of a shitstick, yeah alright Doc, I’ll take your help.”

To say that he walked himself to Doctor Ziegler’s office would be an exaggeration, it’s more like he limped like a crippled penguin, swearing every other step. Finally sitting down, it felt like a scorpion had been taken off his shoulder, Dr. Ziegler disappeared somewhere into her office and Adrian took the time to look around. Of course, it’d be redundant to say that it was different than the UNSC, but when you’ve spent half your life serving them, it’s hard to compare it to anything else. One word to describe this place would be inviting, and as oxymoronic as it might sound it did the opposite of that. Field hospitals and medical stations under the UNSC were bleak to say the least, those that survived covvie weaponry would be in extraordinary pain, only half of all those admitted to field hospitals managed to surive. A harsh reality but one that most soldiers had gotten accustomed to, and to have a similar place feeling inviting… it just didn’t sit well with him, it was like decorating a graveyard with birthday candles. Ziegler returned with a massive staff, for a brief second Adrian wondered if this world was technologically advanced, but the medical world was still beating the shit out of people in the hopes it’d fix them. An odd glow began to emanate from the tip of the staff, soon it spread out like tendrils and engulfed him, all the pain and soreness he’d felt began to wash away. His earlier frustrations melted away; it was the best he’d felt in years.

“That’s – its hard to describe, I can’t…what the hell is it?”

“I won’t bore you with the details, it’s of my own creation, essentially it emits a series of nanoparticles that rapidly increase your bodies natural healing ability while also being able to correct minor bone alignment to prevent bones from healing incorrectly. Major injuries can’t be avoided, but smaller things that bruising, fractures, and open wounds can be speed up” She’d never consider herself vain, but it did always give her a sense of pride to be able to talk about her work. She just wished she’d never have to use it because of such violent interactions, though she was curious about the medical situation back in Kasporov’s home, she’d leave that discussion for another time. “Now I’ll have to ask you to take off your armor and bodysuit for this examination.”

Angela turned to gather her equipment and medical instruments, normally she’d be able to reference a patient’s previous documents but with someone from an entirely different Earth, it’d be better to simply go through the full procedure. Turning back around she was ashamed to say that she was stunned at the scene in front of her, as a doctor she’d seen plenty of awful things and been witness to much of the depravity that mankind can inflict upon itself. She’d never so much of that cruelty inflicted on one man before, his entire back was riddled in scars, wounds, there were several areas where the skin seemed to have been burnt and scorched but never quite healed, like molten flesh that shouldn’t exist. As he turned to face her, it seemed that the wounds were suffered over his entire body, she hadn’t forgotten the near-extinction level event his humanity had been facing, but it had seemed so impossible it was hard to truly grasp. Seeing the consequences in front of her, it was then that the true weight of his war weighed upon her, the true face of an extinction that she would never face, looking into his eyes only solidified what she thought. What this man had suffered through was far beyond anything that anyone in Overwatch would live through, their ‘great war’ with the Omnics was absolutely nothing compared to his war. Deep within her, just momentarily, a brief flash in the passage of eternity, she questioned her role in the world, what she was doing here with Overwatch. At this point Overwatch seemed so small, so insignificant, they were a small ragtag group of heroes trying to do good things on this small Earth. What Adrian had faced, what he fought for, it was then that his words of the glassings truly sunk in, he witnessed entire worlds get wiped from the face of existence, he faced the possibility of a true extinction that would wipe the memory of human from the face of the universe. It’d seemed so pointless to ask, she wasn’t sure if it was her life as a doctor or any almost sublimely twisted interest, but she couldn’t stop herself from wondering.

“How…are you alive?”

The expression on his face must’ve been surprised enough to make her regret her question, but he didn’t blame her. He gotten so used to his own scars and those of everyone else, he’d say he’s gotten off quite lucky compared to most others, it’d definitely be a surprise to just about anyone else. In fact he’d often wondered the same thing himself, how he’d managed to survive this long, why’d he survived when so many others hadn’t.

“I’ve gotten used to the fact that I look like a human pin cushion, most others do where I’m from. I don’t take it as a personal insult if you’re curious, but I don’t need any damn pity, I’ve accepted the shit hand life dealt me.”

Snapped from her daze, she began to set up the equipment and running test, “Well…I’d like to cover my embarrassment by saying its professional curiosity, but I suppose that’s not any more polite than admitting my own personal curiosity…and horror. Such as, those unusual burn marks that uhmm-”

“Don’t look human? That’d be plasma burns, the main weapon type used by the Covenant, super-heated plasma worked into a variety of weapons. Nastiest shit I’ve ever, our armor is practically worthless against it, might as well tape paper to your body and you’d get the same protection.”

“That’s awful! They just send you out there with worthless armor?”

“I’m exaggerating, but it’s not great. My armor here is composite titanium, stacked and layered multiple times with various metals, and I can take maybe two or three hits from plasma before its entirely melted, but that’s ignoring the fact that even one hit still leaves a partially melting piece of metal stuck to your chest. I just feel bad for the regular ole infantry that have even worse armor than mine.” Silence reigned in as Ziegler continued her tests, it’d been strange for Adrian to talk so much, he’d never been quiet but there were others in his squad who ran their mouths enough for them all. Then he was the focus of so much interest, it made him uncomfortable, “If you don’t mind Doc, I’ve been wondering about your accent. Where are you from? I knew a guy from a planet called New Harmony who had something similar.”

“Ah, I am from Switzerland. My parents both immigrated from Germany when they were in their twenties, not long after they moved, I was born. I spent most of childhood in Zurich, though my family had a vacation home off of Lake Zug.”

“Huh, I assume Switzerland somewhere in Europe then?”

Angela gave a light laugh, “You do not know? Its right in the middle of Europe!”

“Never been to Earth before, first time I ever saw her in person was when I was being deployed during the invasion, even then I got swept away before I could even set foot on the ground. I guess this is my first time ever being on Earth.”

“Do you consider it home? Earth I mean.”

Adrian thought on it, “I’m…really not sure. Some guys I’ve met do, never seen it but ask them about their home and they’ll say ‘Earth’. It depends on your ties I guess.”

“What about your actual home then? Where you were born?” She noticed his body tense momentarily before relaxing.

“I was born on a colony called Kholo, in the Aberdaus System. It wasn’t an awful place to live by any means, but most of it was barren desert, most of the population lived around the one large ocean that existed on the planet. It was always surreal living in the city and being able to look out into the vast wilderness and see exactly where the lush plant life just stopped, almost as if there was an invisible wall. Storms were rare, but intense, we’d go weeks without rain and then all of a sudden, it’d appear without warning. Flooding used to be a big issue because of this, but eventually we developed some sort of unique irrigation system that allowed us to expand into the desert. The only problem being the wild weather that existed in the wasteland, it wasn’t uncommon for these massive dust storms to rage for days out in the middle of the desert. Far away from us, practically the opposite side of the continent, but you’d know if there was a storm raging because during the evenings…the sunlight would become this unreal shade of reddish-brown.” As he explained, Angela listened with rapt attention, being able to hear of these otherworldly wonders was absorbing.

“What of your family then? Do they still live on Kholo?”

His light smile twitched as he struggled to keep from frowning, “They’re… well – thanks for every Dr. Ziegler, I appreciate it. If I have your all clear I’ve got some things to take care of.” She frowned at the abrupt change in subject but let it slide, giving him the all clear she watched as he systemically reequipped his gear. He left with a curt nod, leaving Angela to only question their new guest even more, though it was clear his family was a touchy subject. She made a mental note to try to avoid such personal questions in the future.

Originally planning to talk to Winston at some point today, he decided to toss that on the backburner. Deciding to wander the base and distract his mind instead, first he’d need to find a workshop or armory, somewhere he could get the materials to repair his armor and find a solution to his ammo situation. Better yet, if he could find the quartermaster, they’d surely be able to do all of that, he wouldn’t be able to do any meaningful repairs to his armor on his own, lack of tools aside, he’d need someone truly skilled to work on titanium armor. It took him a few minutes of wandering to finally come across what looked like a workshop, bits of junk littered the floor, tool were mounted across all the walls, and half-repaired weapons laid on work benches. Wandering over to one of the workbenches, it looked like a prototype weapons, the metal was largely unpolished with sketches across the entire desk. Frankly it looked bulky and unwieldy, it had a bullpup design but it would’ve been a pain to reload, if anything it looked like someone had turned a UNSC into a weapon.

“Aye! Who the hell do you think you think you are, coming in here to my workshop and messing with my work!” Adrian turned to see a short, stocky man walk into the room, the man had an absolutely massive beard, he was surprised that the beard didn’t pull him to the floor since it was practically as big as the man was. Briefly Adrian thought that it was like if a grunt had been turned into a human.

“I came here like for a quartermaster, my armor needs repairs and I had questions about making unique ammo.”

“You’re that new guy, aren’t you? I don’t care about your damn sob story or whatever it was. Go bother someone else, I have my own work to do. Fix your damn armor yourself.” With that the short man left, leaving Adrian wondering why he came into this room in the first place.

“Fucking dwarf.” He muttered under his breath.

“I’m sorry for my father, he can be a bit rough around the edges.” A young girl walked into the room from where the other man had recently just left.

“That man is your father? I’ve having a hard time finding a resemblance.” Where the man, her father, had been astronomically short and stocky with a massive blonde beard, this girl was almost as tall as himself, with dark auburn hair and a strong physique. It seemed that her father’s stockiness had gone into endowing other parts of her body instead Adrian thought to himself as he looked her over.

She laughed, “I’m not entirely sure either, it seems I get my looks from my mother instead. Good thing for that I say. I’m Brigette.”

“Adrian.” He stuck out his hand, she grabbed it with a firm vice, harder than he’d anticipated.

“So I overheard that you need repairs and ammo?”

He nodded his head shaking his hand as he drew it back from her, “My armor needs repairs, but its specialized and above what I can do, my ammo needs are also unique. I’ll show you what I mean.”

Unstrapping his chest plate, he laid it down with a heavy bang onto the nearest open table. He also took out a round from each of his weapon’s magazines as she walked over. She looked over the armor first, running her hands over the large fist-sized dent that Reaper’s shotgun blast had caused.

“Its composite titanium, while its not in any bad shape now, I mostly want to know that in the future it can be repaired.”

“Hmm I see what you mean, its not impossible, but its different than what the others use. I should be able to fix it up if it comes to, I’ll also talk to my father for you. He’s stubborn but can’t resist a challenge, he’s the best metalsmith I know, so if I can’t do it then he will. As for your ammo, that won’t be a problem, lots of the others have personal weapons with strange ammunition, your bullets are complex, but I can get new ammunition made to these exact specs. This will all take though, new molds will have to be made and materials ordered from overseas, I hope that’s alright.”

Adrian gave a sigh of relief, it was working out better than he’d planned, “That’ll be fine, my armor will hold and I’ve got enough ammo for another couple missions.”

He began to reequip his chest plate when he noticed that the girl was looking at him with a curious expression, “I haven’t seen you here before though, are you a new member?”

So not everyone knew of his situation, he wasn’t sure how long that would last but he’d take it for now.

“Uh yeah, just got here a day or so ago.”

She smiled, “Well its nice to always have more here helping out! I’ll see you around Adrian.” Waving she turned and walked over to a project, in the corner of the workshop he saw he pod laying against the wall. Going over to it he found the duffle bag that was confiscated when he was captured. Rifling through it he saw it still had the spare supplies and equipment he’d brought originally. Heaving over his shoulder, he gave one last wave to Brigette and headed back to his room. Sliding open the door he tossed his helmet unceremoniously onto the table, sitting down at the desk his chair let out a loud creak as it strained under the weight of all his gear. He hefted the bag onto the rest of the desk and began removing all of his equipment, he’d only seen a fraction of the technology in this world but it was far different that what he worked on, even with covvie tech he’d been trained and had experience with it, but this was all new. It had some similarities of course with his own world, but the stuff that was familiar was extremely dated, the rest of it was. It wasn’t impossible, but it wouldn’t be easy. Hooking up his helmet with his TACPAD, he scrolled through piles of data and logged information, then he opened the holo computer they’d given him and attempted a wireless linking of the two. As expected, the two didn’t even register each other as existing, opening the command screen on the holo computer, he typed in a few new commands in the hope of at least establishing a connection. Checking his TACPAD, he saw that he could brute force a connection, not what he’d hope but beggars can’t be choosers. Copying the data from his helmet onto his TACPAD, he attempted to transfer the information over to the holo computer, only for a warning sign on the computer to pop-up, ‘ **ERROR 35.0051.X3: INVALID DATA – TRANSFERFER CORRUPTED.** ’

Adrian stared at it before speaking, “Huh, that went better than I anticipated.”


	6. There's Got to Be An Easier Way

**Watchpoint Gibraltar, Iberian Peninsula, Europe**

The next couple days passed in an unremarkable blur, learning and reconciling this world’s technological had been a more absorbing process than he’d first imagined. Occasionally he’d use the on-base A.I for assistance but was reluctant to go further than that, such as integrating her to his TACPAD and data systems. She was useful not doubt, but whether she was a smart A.I or a complex dumb A.I left him wary of trusting her, especially if she delved into an unknown technology there could be a myriad of unexpected consequences. So, he pushed through the struggles though he’d often make less progress than he did the day before. Outside of his personal work he rarely saw anyone else, apparently most were out on a mission leaving only the skeleton crew behind. He ate alone in the cafeteria more often than not, even in the UNSC it wasn’t an uncommon experience as most ODSTs ostracized any outsiders, though in this instance with the glares of the other members, he was clearly the outsider. The exception to this being the base chef, one of the first rules of his service was to always befriend the cook, you’d get the best servings and occasionally something extra when new shipment came in. It had played out no differently, with Adrian quickly being friendly with Marques the chef. The man could ramble, and Adrian would be lying if he said he actually cared, but having your ear talked off was far better than the glares and rumbles of contempt from the other members of the base. Though on occasion the young mechanic Brigette would decide to eat with him, the conversations were largely small talk though he wouldn’t say he minded the company, she was pleasant enough to talk with. During their last meeting he’d asked her about anyone with some technological experience, she mentioned a couple people that might be able to help, but wasn’t sure if they were out on the latest mission or not. He’d never gotten around to talking with the ape, he did however send in some information regarding slipspace ruptures and technology that he knew of. Specifics however were out of his domain, though he thought it would be possible that his pod would’ve recorded data fluctuations and anomalies when he passed through the slipspace rupture, once that hurdle was passed hopefully the process of getting him home would increase. To access that data however, he’d still need to finish getting an actual connection between this works tech and his own.

Now he was once again working tirelessly at his personal project, another few hours of work only to lead to another error message, he threw his TACPAD across the room with a furious yell. He’d spent days and it had seemed no closer to actually making any progress, he never expected it to be easy, but he’d expected some form of progress. Taking a deep breath, he took a look around the room he’d been occupying in for the last few days. The desk had quickly become cluttered with various bits of tech and junk, his bed had quickly been abandoned as he soon found that despite initially enjoying the bed, it wasn’t something he found comfortable to sleep in. Maybe it was just paranoia or his time as a soldier, but he’d found it easier to sleep laying against the walls in his room than on the bed itself, and so the blankets were ripped from the bed and lying in an ungainly heap in the corner. The most organized thing in his room would probably be his weapons, carefully laid out and disassembled on a mat next to his desk, they laid bare and untouched by the ravaging chaos of his slow descent into madness. Pounding at the door shook himself from his stupor, the chair groaning in relief as Adrian’s armored body left the seat. He slid open the door, not expecting anyone to paid him any mind, only to be surprised at the person in front of him, a young Asian youth with brown hair, casual clothing, and pink…streaks under her eyes, they remined him of whiskers on a cat. The look in her eyes gave off the impression that was bothered by something, and seeing that she was her at his door, he could guess that the problem laid with him.

Before he could open his mouth, she spoke, disdain lacing her words, “What the hell do you think you’re doing? There’s been nothing but crashing and yelling coming from this room for the past day! Other people live here to y’know.”

He sighed, “Alright pip-squeak, I’ll keep it down.”

“Pip-squeak? What are you talking about old man, I’m 19, I’m not a child!”

“And I’m 29, not even close to old. God, I hope I wasn’t like this when I was your age.”

She rolled her eyes with an annoyed groan, then she turned her eyes to give him a skeptical look, “I haven’t even seen you here before, are you the new guy everyone’s been talking about?”

“Yeah, I suppose I am. What do you do here? Interning for your summer job or something?”

“I told you I’m 19! I’m a soldier for Overwatch. You may have heard of me, I’m D.va!” She did a pose. Only nineteen and already a solider, though it’d be a bit hypocritical of him to say that he was any better, fucking Christ he’d joined when he was sixteen. Still, he felt his was more out of necessity than anything else, this world had its fair share of problems sure, but nothing needing children like her, nineteen was practically still a child in his eyes.

“Is it true that you’re from another universe?” That caught his attention, he’d thought that only a select few were aware of that information, “So it’s true huh. Don’t worry I don’t gossip…much, but your secrets safe with me!”

“How do you know that?”

She shrugged, “I was bored, decided to look through Overwatch’s database.”

“So, you’ve got enough experience their technology to get through some basic security?” Pieces were starting to fall into place as a plan started forming.

“Well duh, I’m not hacking genius or whatever, but I know more than most people here.”

“Alright listen, you help me with a technological problem I’ve been having, and in return I’ll owe you a favor.”

“Like what?” The disinterested expression she’d held for most of the conversation perked up at that.

“Whatever you want…that’s within reason. And no I can’t give you anything from my universe, I don’t have any trinkets with me.” Save one, but that’s not something she needed to know about.

“Hmmm, alright. I’ll hold onto it then, use it when I feel like. Now what do you need help with, finding Google? Or did you accidently download a virus?” She quipped as she made her way into his room.

“I’m not senile, I actually need with some actual technology. Since my origin isn’t much a secret around you, I’m actually a tech specialist where I come from.”

She turned, a curious look upon her face, D.va turned back to the pile of wires on the table connected to his helmet.

“So why do you need my help then?” She asked as he bent down to pick up his TACPAD he’d thrown earlier.

“Because while I’m trained in my own world, I know next to nothing about the technology here. Its making compatibility between my equipment difficult.”

“Anndd you need someone with knowledge in this world for a basis. Otherwise you’re just running circles chasing your own tail.”

Adrian snapped his fingers, “Exactly, so can you help me?”

Shrugging once more but this time with a smile she said, “Sure, wouldn’t be right of a member of Overwatch to leave an elderly man without help.”

He snorted, giving her a brief rundown of his technology, they went to work as he explained his work so far and she gave her thoughts as to where he went work. There was progress, small, absolutely crawling in terms of a final product, but it was there, and considering where he’d been just hours before, he’d considered it fucking fantastic.

“So in your universe or whatever, have people mutated to have like cool psychics powers, or weird bodies like you see in see in all the sci-fi shows?”

Adrian turned and gave her a weird look, “Uhh no, not really. People are still just people.”

She gave an indigent sigh and typed something into a datapad, “That’s so lame! Isn’t there anything super cool in the future? Like laser guns or teleporting?”

“Well we have practically near-universal FTL travel, I always thought that was cool when I was your age.”

“God you must’ve been sooo lame. C’mon you must have something super cool! If its top secret I promise I won’t tell anyone!”

It’s not like that ‘promise’ would suddenly make him spill every ONI secret he’s learned up until now, but she wouldn’t quit whining until he told her, it reminded him of how his sister Chloe would do the same…keep bugging him until he caved. He gave a brief smile, “Alright fine kid, I may have heard a couple things that I wasn’t supposed to, a perk of occasionally working for those ONI spooks I suppose. The scientist bigwigs have been using this for a while I think, but its always been hit or miss on if it actually works, they’ve found a way to completely copy someone’s neural interface, essentially download a person’s entire mind, thoughts, memories, personality, all of it.”

“Whoa, I knew there had to be cool stuff in the future. So, what’s it for?”

Adrian gave a half-hearted shrug as he wrote some observations down, “Above my paygrade, not for me know.”

A comfortable silence fell between them as they went back to working on their problem at hand, before he knew it, hours had passed.

“Ah shit, its way fucking later than I thought it’d be.”

“Old, and vulgar too!”

“Shut it pip-squeak. I appreciate the help though, if I run into anymore hurdles, I’ll ask for your help again.”

“Whatever, just hope that people won’t get the wrong idea of an old man coming to visit a much younger girl.” She teased, “Oh and I’m still holding you towards that favor.”

“Yeah yeah, fucking kids.” Dismissively waving his hand, he shut the door with a sigh. He was starting to feel cooped up, it was rare for him to go so long with so little action. Laying back against the wall, he slid to the floor with a muffled thud. Closing his eyes he passed into the welcoming abyss of sleep.

….

….

….

_Explosions rocked him from his sleep, he fumbled around for his weapon and sat up with a start. Looking around he saw the frontline in chaos, the Covenant had come attacked much sooner than anticipated. They were to protect the mineral refineries until the raw materials could be transported elsewhere, it was a critical blow enough that the Covenant had found a key refinery but they’d hoped to lessen the impact but transporting as much of the goods as possible. A much younger Adrian Kasporov looked over the fortifications they’d built only to see a row of Wraiths lining the edge of the forest, firing a constant bombardment into the facility. His battalion had been sent here a week ago to try to prevent Covenant takeover of the plant, but that’d gone as well as they expected. They’d took two-hundred casualties on the initial landing; it took a fifth of the battalion to be for Major Adams to realize that they were vastly underprepared for the mission they’d been give. Luckily his unit had managed to avoid the landing, they were also largely experienced soldiers, he was the freshest but even then he’d already been serving for near two and half years._

_“Alright marines listen up! Those split-chinned freaks have decided that they want this refinery, but they haven’t asked very nicely. Lets show these bastards that their Gods don’t mean shit when faced against us, I want each and everyone of you to so utterly slaughter those ugly fuckers that they won’t even have a soul for their Gods to accept!” Second Lieutenant Greene yelled, despite being an academy officer, the man had proven to lead on the front-line and Adrian had always respected him for it, as did the others in his squad._

_“Oorah!”_

_“Damn right Marines. Perkins, Emilio, get those SPNKRs focused on those Wraiths.”_

_The ground rumbled as the Wraiths moved closer, he could feel his teeth chattering with every incoming salvo of plasma artillery. Peaking above his cover he fired a series of controlled bursts from his MA3 assault rifle, he downed a couple grunts before he was forced to take cover once more as needler rounds flew by him. The sounds of heavy cannon fire could be heard in the distance as the few scorpions they’d been given picked off the enemy armor from the sidelines. Popping up he fired as some jackals, managing to down one of them and stunning the other before a marksman finished it off. Longswords strafed by but had a difficult time hitting any targets, the Covenant had set up a series of Tyrant anti-air in the forests and that kept the pilots from making any real work. A scream rang out next to him, he turned to see his squadmate Andrei go down with a needler round through his shoulder. Someone tried to drag him away but instead was riddled with a series of needler rounds, supercoiling and blasting their innards out. Warm blood splashed Adrian’s face as he stared at the horror in front of him, wiping his face he laid down a heavy suppression. A deafening blast from behind shook him to the bone, turning he saw the true beauty of a double-barreled heavy-class M53 Black Widow, they cost a hell of a lot to produce but god damn they were a welcomed sight._

_It made short work of the covvie armor, the strangler infantry were quickly picked off by the rest of the marines, leaving an empty field of corpses. A light cheer went up around those on the front line, it seemed they’d survived the onslaught. The Covenant would be back, but it usually took them a solid couple hours to regroup their forces and make another push, by the time that happens most of the battalion should already be evacuated. Whatever brief joy they had was quickly crushed as the trees at the edge of the clearing began to come toppling down. A second wave of covvie armor came bursting through the tree line, this time escorted by Ghosts and supported by a trio of Phantasms, they were massive heavily fortified land vehicles, almost three times the size of a Wraith, they had enough fire power to decimate this facility until not even dust was left. Weapons fired opened up, the tanks focused on the armor and the marines trying to pop the drivers out of the ghosts before they could do too much damage. Adrian kept a steady line of fire on the nearest ghost, a lucky round managed to hit the grunt in the skull, it’s corpse rag-dolled out of the seat as the ghost drilled into the ground, exploding in a bright flash of plasma and fire. The Wraiths kept pushing with the Phantasms not far behind, what was already a losing battle had quickly turned into a doomed one. Ducking behind his cover, he swapped his mag but stopped when he heard a familiar screech growing closer. Looking behind him, he saw a massive round of plasma from a Wraith barring down on his position, he scrambled to get up but wasn’t fast enough. Exploding beside him it sent Adrian rocketing back from the frontline, he tumbled across the ground in a daze, the haziness soon transforming into a pain he’d never felt before, it was as if his skin was melting from his body. Look down he saw his armor was melting onto his chest, searing into his skin, the plasma round had splashed onto his body. His body wreathed in agony, his limbs contorting into unnatural ways as he desperately attempted to rip the armor from his body. Every second he could feel it burning down his side and deeper into his body, like thorns piercing his flesh, his screams soon faded into dry rasps. His throat hoarse and gasping from his cries, a figure appeared above him though he couldn’t focus on it._

_Relief came when he felt his chest piece torn from his body, though it only stopped the pain from growing, his skin was still scorching, it practically felt like it was bubbling from the immense heat. Focus came back to his vision, he saw that he was being dragged away from the frontline, all around him soldiers were making a controlled retreat. The Black Widow was still firing away until a series of plasma rounds nailed it, it burst into flames and the screams of the tankers stuck inside echoed in his mind. He was lifted onto a Falcon with other wounded, a medic applied some ointment to his wounds, the pain flared like the medic was dragging red-hot steel across his body. All Adrian could do was lull his head to the size and watch in a daze as the first of the Covenant armor burst through the front line, plasma fire lighting up whatever poor soul was stuck guarding the retreat._

….

….

….

Adrian’s eyes cracked open, his neck felt sore and his backs tiff, he hadn’t dreamed of his time in the marines for years. As if reacting to the memory, the wound on his chest felt hot and uncomfortable. Failure, that’s all that operation was, a massive failure; the planet Lacrimis II had been lost a month later, but especially the evacuation and resource collection at the facility was an utter defeat. Of the entire one-thousand man battalion that went in to defend it, only 243 had survived, including himself, Major Adams had been demoted because of that abysmal failure, such a disgrace apparently that he’d been sent back to Earth pending a military court. Pulling out a cigarette and lighting it, he stood up and inhaled, blowing out a puff of smoke as the intercom in his room rang.

“Mr. Kasporov, Winston wishes to see you in his office, a new mission had come up.”

Fucking finally, he thought to himself as he took a long drag from his cigarette, walking out the door he headed towards the ape’s office. When he walked into the office, he saw a few others already in the room, Dr. Ziegler, and McCree, he hadn’t spoken to McCree since their initial encounter, but he’d also never made an effort to talk to anyone. Ziegler gave him a small smile when he entered, she was wearing a strange battledress, there were also…wings upon her back. He shook his head at the strangeness of it all but stole a glance at the form-fitting outfit, flicking his cigarette to the side, he laid back against one of the tables in the room.

“Ah everyone’s here, good. We’ve recently received some intel that Talon has recently set up shop in South America.” A large holographic globe appeared in front of them, it turned halfway around and focused on a large landmass labeled South America, a large red dot was marked in the Northwest, “Specifically in the Northern tip of Peru. According to our information, Talon forcefully took over a sizable village and its nearby mining operation. If we can liberate the village and mine from Talon’s grasp, not only will it show our dedication to helping the people but will act as a crippling blow towards Talon’s wealth. Kasporov and McCree, you two will clear the village of hostiles, once that’s done, you’ll move to free the mine as well. Angela, I’m sending you to aid the civilians, apparently the miners are being worked to death and will need whatever help they can get.” Winston spoke a bit more about the surrounding area, but Adrian tuned it out, a jungle on Earth wouldn’t be any different than any of the other dozens of jungles he’s been deployed too. A shake on his shoulder snapped him from his thoughts, looking around the room it was empty except for Dr. Ziegler net to him.

It seemed he’d be zoning out so hard he missed the dismissal, “Coming? Seems like someone wasn’t paying attention.” She teased with a grin.

“Won’t deny that Doc, he was just so boring it reminded me of grade school.” They shared a laugh at that before leaving the room.

“True enough, Winston does have a tendency to focus on unnecessary details, but I suppose to much information is better than too little.”

“Oh, I disagree, clearly you never had to listen to your biology teacher talk about their personal orgasms during sex ed in school.”

She burst out laughing at that, “Really?”

“Oh yeah, Mister Boyes, perfectly average man by all accounts. We go into class that day as he starts talking about mutual pleasuring and healthy sex, then for fuck knows why, he starts giving personal details as an example, ‘Its different for everybody, but for me I’m fifty and still shooting out like a horse.’” Adrian mimicked his teacher’s voice at the end, he cracked a smile at the end and laughed at his own ridiculous action.

Angela laughed with him, “Winston is a dear friend of mine, and as a doctor I’ll always have his best interests in mind, but I’m not sure what I’d do if he started talking about his sex life with me. Especially if he brings the same level of detail that he brings to our briefings.”

Adrian blanched at the image with Dr. Ziegler have a grand time at his expression as they walked onto the Orca. Taking a seat, he unstrapped his battle rifle from his back and gave it a quick once over, simply making sure that everything was working as it should. Clacking boot spurs told him that the cowboy McCree was heading over, it wasn’t a surprise with those loud any jangles tat McCree hadn’t accompanied them on his last mission. 

“Listen, Winston says to work with you so I will, just follow my lead on the ground and we’ll be just fine.”

“I’ve seen more combat in a year than you’ve seen in your life cowboy, just be sure that magnum isn’t too heavy for you.”

McCree grinned at that, “I think we’ll be alright.”

Adrian sighed as McCree walked away, ‘What the hell is up with these people’.


	7. And Henceforth An Angel Appeared

**Northern Tip of Loreto Department, Peru, South America**

Lush vegetation covered the tropical forest floor, the trees were so dense it could be dark as night in some areas, armored black boots stomped through the flora. Adrian glanced around at the scenery; they’d been dropped off a few klicks South of the village to avoid rousing any suspicion with the Talon troops. They’d been trudging through the almost impenetrable vegetation for a little over half an hour now, according to his helmet’s HUD it was sweltering, the humidity was upwards of 80% , a fact he was blissfully aware of due to his suit’s internal cooling and heating functions. Completely sealed for the possibility of space combat, he was able to not only stay in a comfortably cool environment but avoid dealing with any of the local pests. To the credit of his companions ahead of him, they slogged through the heat without a complaint, luckily the village should be just over the hill they were climbing over. McCree stopped and crouched at the crest in the hill, motioning for them to come forward, Adrian stopped next to him and aimed through the scope of his battle rifle. Immediately seen were two Talon goons guarding the road entrance to the village, it could be assumed that two more were watching the opposite entrance and a least a dozen or so scattered throughout the village among the civilians.

“Well I reckon we go in loud, if we take our time to try and off every single guard, there’s not telling if a patrol will come back and ruin everything anything. We’d have better success if we secured the village as quick as possible, then if any patrol comes back, we can easily pick them off.”

Adrian would’ve had someone provide cover for patrols while another went and cleared the village, bur McCree’s plan was just as good. “Alright, but we should go in closer before we engage, the less time they have to prepare the better. I say we split up and take out both guard groups on the roads into the village, then we move our way in from the outside to prevent anyone from escaping.” McCree nodded in affirmation and Adrian continued, “I’ll take out these two here, you take the ones in the back, radio when we’re in position and we’ll go from there. Dr. Ziegler, I assume you don’t carry a firearm?”

“I do, but only for do-or-die emergency personal defense, I’m a strict pacifist.”

That surprised Adrian, he never figured she’d be a pacifist considering her occupation, but he quickly had to remind himself that Overwatch wasn’t in a situation where even medical personal were combat trained and armed to the teeth.

“As support, I’d recommend you stay back from when the conflict erupts, but close enough to give aid if any poor bastard that gets caught in the crossfire.” She frowned at Adrian’s callous mention of innocent casualties but nodded. With the plan settled they split up, with Adrian sliding down a steep dirt incline to the outskirts of the village. Laying flat on his stomach he crawled a ways behind the guards, the ferns bent around him but luckily the mercs seemed pathetically lax in their guarding. Bringing himself to a crouch, he placed his battle rifle on his back and drew his M6C silenced pistol and combat knife, he inched his way closer to the guards.

“McCree, I’m in position.” He whispered as he was only a foot from the guard.

“Alright, lets get it done.” McCree responded, at his words Adrian stood up and kicked on the closet mercs back lack bringing him to kneel. He brought his serrated knife across the man’s throat in a quick slash, tearing out his throat with a vicious rip, he then raised his pistol in his free hand and fired at the last guard. Both went down within in second, Adrian flicked the blood of his knife and holstered his weapons, once more drawing his battle rifle. The blasting sound of McCree’s magnum told him that the assault on the village had started, he shouldered himself against the nearest building and began firing at any Talon mercs that came into his line of sight. Initially most were focused on McCree’s position which made it easily to come up from behind a let off a quick burst into their backs. The burst fire round from his battle rifle made quick work of the lightly armored guards, the ammo made to get through Covenant armors and shields tore through Talon’s armor like paper. Each shot left three gaping holes in their bodies, a burst to the skull would blast it open, blood and brain raining down like confetti. Once Talon was made aware of his presence, Adrian ducked into the nearest building, swearing to himself when he saw, a family huddled together in the corner. Peaking the door, he immediately ducked back in as a hail of gunfire peppered his cover, grabbing a grenade off his belt he pulled the pin and rolled it into the middle of the village. An explosion followed by a series of screams told him that he was clear, shouldering his rifle he popped from the door and into the fray once again.

Two eviscerated bodies lay groaning in agony from the grenade, he left them as he had plans for them later. The last few mercs didn’t last for much longer, between being pressed from two sides by McCree and Adrian, though it was admirable that they didn’t surrender, instead choosing to fight till the end. McCree finished off the last one with a series of shots to the mercs gut, leaving him hunched over before falling to the side. Leaving McCree to secure the town and contact Dr. Ziegler, he walked over to the two unfortunate souls that were still alive. Of the two alive, they couldn’t have been further from opposite walks of life, one looked like a hardened veteran that’d seen his fair share of combat, the other barely looked like he was old enough to grow hair. Crouching by the hardened veteran, Adrian asked a simple question, “How many men do you have in the mines?” The answer came in a bloody glob of spit in his face, it went about as planned, standing up her drew his pistol and fired a quick shot to the man’s head. Moving over to the next man, or maybe it’d be better to call him a boy, he asked the same question. To the boys credit he didn’t answer…at first, but that just wouldn’t do, he’d had enough experience with insurrectionists to know that torture often gave poor intel, it only worked if the person you were interrogating was naïve enough to believe that the truth would set them free. Hence why you start with the older grizzled man, when he obviously won’t answer, you kill or maim him to set an example for the fresh ones.

“Listen, I admire your courage for staying silent, but obviously you don’t want to end up a maimed and forgotten pile of meat like your buddy over there. You know what’s probably gonna happen with him? His corpse is going to get dragged out of here like a sack of garbage, then he’ll get tossed into the nearest river or more likely, into the nearest ditch where he’ll get picked apart by scavengers. Now clearly you don’t want that, what’s more, we have a doctor with us. Dr. Ziegler, very nice and I guarantee her magic wand or whatever can heal these wounds, you’ll be able to live.”

The boy’s eyes grew in shock, “You…you’ve got Mercy with you? I-I-I can live!”

Adrian had never heard of ‘Mercy’ nor any inkling as to why it was associated with Dr. Ziegler, but he pushed that thought to the back of his mind.

“Exactly kid, besides it’d be a shame if your last few moments were spent in grueling agony.” Adrian said as he twirled his serrated combat knife into view. The young man’s face twisted to an indescribable terror, his mouth hung agape, attempting to form words but unable to, it took a few seconds before a stuttering babble came out and slowly became a cohesive sentence.

“Th-th-th-theres uhmmm…like nine guys there and-“

“Like nine? Or there is nine? I want exact numbers and you want to have the same exact number of fingers you do know.”

“Uhmm-uhmm,” He stammered, sweat running down his face, “Nine, its exactly nine guys we sent over there…be-be-because uhmmm, twenty-three of us were sent here and fourteen of here stayed in this village.”

Adrian stared at him a moment longer before nodding and standing up, “Alright kid, good job.”

“N-n-now I can see Mercy, right? And she’ll make me all better?” His voice trembled with earnest as his eyes stared up at Adrian’s covered form.

“Yeah, we’ll get right to that.” Adrian turned, pulling his pistol, and firing a quick shot with practiced efficiency at the last Talon merc in the village. He began to walk over to a stunned McCree, his mouth ajar with the signature cigar barely balancing on the tip of his lip. Depolarizing his faceplate, he began to tell McCree what he’d learn from the Talon mercs when Dr. Ziegler jogged up to the two of them.

“Where are the two wounded Talon operatives?” She questioned a concerned look in her eyes.

McCree scratched the back of his beck awkwardly, “Well it seems that they uhh didn’t make it. Sorry bout that.” His eyes quickly flashed over to Adrian’s form.

Her eyes widened in horror at the realization, “You…you didn’t kill those wounded men, did you?!” Disbelief in her voice as she spoke to Adrian. Through his depolarized faceplate he gave no hint of remorse, instead only betraying the faintest confusion.

“Of course, what else what I do?”

Baffled, she struggled to comprehend what she was hearing, even McCree, the most gung-ho and rebellious of the Overwatch members still never killed any disabled Talon merc that couldn’t possibly pose a threat.

“They were injured! Out of the fight, they didn’t have a hope of attacking us! I could’ve healed them, brought them back as a prisoner!” She had always been on a tenuous relationship with Overwatch, she’d voiced her concerns over their militaristic and the blatant fallout of their actions, specifically focusing at the formation of Talon. But this was a whole new level of disbelief that she’d never expected from any member of Overwatch.

“Let them live they can make a full recovery? Escape from Gibraltar or send vital information back to Talon? Leaving them alive will only lead to problems down the line.” Why would it matter that he killed them, an enemy was an enemy, if they spared the life of every injured Covenant and never finished them off, the war would’ve ended a lot faster. Prisoner of war wasn’t a term the UNSC or Covenant were very familiar with, even for the insurrectionists only a very few high-ranking individuals were captured by the UNSC and as far as he was aware this wasn’t a tag-and-bag mission.

“Because it makes us better than Talon, it means we’re still human inside. What if we’d just killed you onsite instead of brining you back to Overwatch?”

“I’d shoot myself, if I were in your position and faced with an unknown and hostile force, I’d put it down. But what does it matter that you’re better than Talon, what happens when Talon wins? Let’s face it, Overwatch is on the losing side right, you guys lack, power, numbers, and influences to really combat Talon, and your biggest concern is over saving MORE of your enemies? You don’t get to be morally righteous and win the war, you don’t have to stoop to their levels, but you can stand on your righteous seat while killing others. Sure, they might’ve had families, but so does every person killed or maimed in their terrorist actions, how many saved Talon mercs have to be saved only to escape and commit more atrocities before the lives of innocents finally outweighs the lives of the mercs. Not saving them; doing what’s necessary doesn’t make you evil, it means you want to succeed in your goals.”

“But who decides what’s necessary? Sure, if I don’t save them, I’m not on the equivalent of terrorizing cities, but how many more times do we slide our moral compass to ‘ _do what’s necessary’?_ Aren’t the Covenant just doing what they believe is right? That they’re morally justified in doing what’s necessary?” With that she sighed, she looked at Adrian with a look he couldn’t place, it wasn’t pity but almost something worse than that…inhumanity? He shook his head as she walked off to see to the civilians.

“Listen I’m not about to get in the middle of your spat, much as I disagree with some of what was said, but we still have a mission to complete.” McCree walked up to him, uncertainty lacing his words.

Breathing deeply, he spoke, “You’re right…you’re right. Listen we don’t know who many are on patrol or if any plan on coming back, leaving Ziegler here if that happens would undo all the work we did and give the upper hand to Talon.”

McCree nodded, “You suggest one of us staying here while the other handles the mine?”

“I’d handle the mine; you stay here with the Doctor.”

“Nine is a lot for one person, you sure partner?”

Yeah…I’ll figure something out as I go along.” He the left the conversation at that, the mine wasn’t that far, only fifteen minutes, but he’d still be stuck with his thoughts and formulating a plan. Trekking through the jungle, his mind kept racing back towards his argument with Ziegler, that she brought up the fucking Covenant, as if she had any god damn experience with suruving that hell. Every passing day just further emphasized that he wasn’t meant for this Earth. This wasn’t his world, they were in a tense struggle sure, but they had the luxury or rather, normalcy, of the world continuing on in their failures, they had morals and rules they shaped them into the organization they were today, they didn’t have to stoop to the lows of ONI or even the UNSC at times to simply stay alive. As his anger subsided, he sighed to himself and decided that in the future, he’d just defer to the others, this wasn’t his world to save, they’d rue the consequences for their own actions, if they kept on their righteous path they wouldn’t make it, but that wasn’t his problem. He still vehemently disagreed with her about saving those goons, despite that, he should make amends with Dr. Ziegler later, he didn’t need to vilify himself to one of the few people at Overwatch that tolerated him. She was just doing what she thought was right, and as callous as it felt for her to bring up the Covenant…she wasn’t wrong, he’d been arguing that tame point in his mind just a few days ago when he’d first been brought to Overwatch. Coming up upon the mine, he could see the industry equipment peaking up through the trees, eventually it opened up into a small clearing, several trucks were parked by the entrance to the mine with a four Talon mercs patrolling the outside. Initially he wondered why such a small number of Talon mercs would be guarding this mine, but it started to make sense it seemed to be very small, that only led to more questions. The ape -Winston- had mentioned that they were using this for economic gain, but such a small mine couldn’t possibly produce that much wealth, unless the ore was exceedingly rare, or they were looking for something specifically.

That wasn’t his worry however, the specifics were above him, he was just here to follow orders and clear the mine. Standing outside the mine were four mercs, that left five inside the mine itself, but these ones here would be the hardest. Inside the mine its doubtful that they were bunched up like these four, and he’d be able to use the mine’s layout to pick them off, here though…it would be difficult. He could toss a grenade, he wasn’t sure how volatile any of the junk around here was, it’d be a greater risk then it was worth. In the end it didn’t seem like he’d need any elaborate plan, one of them seemed suspicious with his comms chatter, or more likely, the lack of it. He motioned to another one to come with him, they walked across the red clay and into one of the nearby trucks, once they pulled out it only left two left.

“McCree, its Kasporov, I just saw two tangos pullout in a truck headed in the direction of the village. You’ve probably got three minutes before they’re there.”

“Copy that, thanks for the heads up.”

Backtracking just a bit, he walked further off to the side of the mine, if he could line up the two guards then he’d be able to fire off a quick double burst and be done with them. With silent footfalls he maneuvered around the foliage, careful not to disturb anything that would reveal his position. The closer to the mine he got, the redder the clay became until his black boots were covered in the reddish earth, finally find a good spot, he took a kneel and shouldered his rifle. With careful aim he waited until the two bodies lined up, with a quick double tap from his rifle both went down, one after the other. He hesitated just a second to see if anyone else would come up from the mine, with only the sound of rustling trees greeting him, he quickly jogged over toward the bodies. Their bodies would be a dead giveaway that something was wrong, and while he wasn’t looking for a clean hiding spot, a few extra seconds before Talon realized something was wrong would be the best. Squatting down, he grabbed the first corpse by its armpits and dragged it away from the entrance, the blood flowed freely into the ground, only deepening the already red soil into a dark crimson. He brought the first body behind the nearest truck and followed suit with the second, with the bodies clear he took his final grenade off his belt and laid a simple wire trap at the entrance. With luck, one of these morons wouldn’t be paying attention and set it off. Travelling into the mine, he noticed that the deeper he got the darker it became, the lights on the walls were faint and several flickered or were out completely. Turning on his VISR, his whole world became engulfed with a faint green tint, the walls contrasted sharper and objects of interest became highlighted in his HUD.

Talking ahead of him caused his to pause, his walking became more measured as each step hit the dirt with a muffled precision. His VISR highlighted two armed men, they stood on a balcony overlooking several miners down below. Replacing his battle rifle with his silenced pistol, he fired two shots into the upper torso of each body, the one of the right went down gurgling, but the second one turned in surprise to see Adrian’s black as midnight armor poke out from the flickering tunnel. To him it must’ve seemed like a ghost coming out of the shadows, the man stepped back a couple times in shock before Adrian fired two more shots and set the man tumbling over the edge. The body landed with a sickening crunch; he didn’t need to see the body after hearing that. Moving past the balcony, he entered another tunnel at the end, it split into a path to the left heading down and another straight ahead, the path to the left was probably for the workers, he continued moving forward. The tunnel seemed to grow larger the further in he went, there was a sharp turn up ahead to the right, but a blip on his motion-tracker told him someone was walking towards the corner. Pressing himself against the corner, he planned to surprise the enemy, but his hasty movements caused some of the lose gravel on the ground to stir. Adrian silent swore to himself and hoped that the man was an idiot and wouldn’t hear it, but the blip on his motion tracker went silent. The man burst from the corner, assault rifle aimed at Adrian, he batted the rifle away and grabbed it firmly with both hands. With as much force as he could muster, he pulled the rifle and the man to the left and slammed him into the wall opposite of Adrian.

They wrestled for control of the rifle until the man attempted to headbutt Adrian, but his helmet absorbed the shock, wresting control of the rifle, he threw the man to the ground. With surprising agility and speed, the man drew his knife and rolled to the side, a sharp pain flared in the back of Adrian’s leg as the man stabbed it in-between his armor plates. Adrian fell to a kneel as his leg gave out, he was sent flying into the wall behind him with a crash as the man’s armored knee hit Adrian in the head. His head was swimming and his vision blurry, he barely registered falling to the ground as the man grabbed his leg and dragged him to the middle of the tunnel. The man’s knee pressed into his stomach as the merc brought himself down closer to Adrian, knife in hand.

“I don’t know who you are, or why you’ve got this fancy armor, but I’m gonna enjoy making you squeal.” He spoke with ravenous ferocity, a Southern drawl accenting his words.

Adrian felt the tip of the knife crack through the plate on his chest and into his side, he let out a hiss as he felt it slice deeper. Brining his right leg in towards his chest, he quickly kicked the merc in the stomach and pushed him off, using his momentary confusion, Adrian grabbed the man’s knife wielding hand by the wrist and gave it a sharp turn. The sound of bones breaking at the unnatural bend caused his grip to falter and the knife to fall, Adrian grabbed the man by the collar and threw him to the ground before giving a forceful stomp to the man’s throat. The sound of his windpipe cracking resounded through the enclosed space as the man futilely gasped for air. Adrian took a step back but grunted in pain from his wounds, the leg wouldn’t be bad, but the abdomen could cause problems if he didn’t take care of it soon. Cracking his trauma pack on his leg, he took out a small canister of biofoam and filled the wound, left alone it’d heal well enough, but he didn’t have time to wait for it to fully heal. Limping down the rest of the corridor, he took him several wrong turns before he ended up in the deepest part of the mine. It seemed to be a sort of headquarters almost, it was a cavernous room, with radios, gear, and several crates of supplies, it was enough to at least stock several dozen soldiers, far more than they’d had here. Maybe this was a staging ground, they sent in a few men to secure the area and more would follow later to establish a greater hold, regardless it would be a great help to Overwatch, he made a mental note to tell McCree and Ziegler about the supplies. In the far corner he saw two men hunched after a table by the radios, intently discussing something, with one man angrily pointing towards something on the map. Limping closer towards them, he aimed his pistol and fired two quick shots to the back of their heads, the bodies fell forward with a heavy thud onto the table. Continuing his limp towards the table, he saw it was a geographic map highlighting troop movement in the area, patrols maybe or plans for the future forces? Shrugging, he unceremoniously pushed the corpses off the table, their blood-stained parts of the map but hopefully it didn’t cover anything too vital. Folding the map, he tucked it under his chest piece with his ODST flag, with those two dead, that would mean the mine was clear, at least if what the Talon agent had said was true. Taking one last look around the room, he began his long limp back to the surface, it took him a good twenty minutes to eventually find his way back above ground, his breathing was haggard as the wounds took their toll. At some point on the way back up, he could feel the barely healing flesh of his wound tear once more, looking down he saw a steady dribble of dark blood leaking down his armor. Making his way to the nearest truck, he hoped in and hotwired the truck, radioing McCree ahead of time so he wouldn’t get shot at, he began his slow drive back to the village. The longer the drive went on the more his vision began to blur, his breathing became more unsteady, he’d lost a decent amount of blood from his stomach wound and the added exertion was only making matters worse. By the time he reached the village, his driving was already erratic, sloppily pulling into the village, he saw McCree eye him with a humorous stare.

“What wrong? Never learned to drive stick before?”

Adrian give a light grin, fumbling to grasp the door handle, when he pulled the level he fell out as a lump of a man. He groaned with the fall and rolled over onto his back, McCree swore in the distance and he heard him call for someone, everything was losing focus around him, but then as if in a dream, it seemed as if an angel appeared above him, wings and all. 


	8. The Land of Darkness

**Veruha Village** , **Loreto Department, Peru, South America**

Adrian sat in the shade beneath a thatch roof, the mid-day sun beat down against his bare face with an unlit cigarette loosely dangling between his parted lips. He looked down at the bandages wrapped around his torso, he scoffed at the sight; it was pathetic, he was an ODST, the best of the best and here he was taken down by some half-assed inbred hick. Everyone made mistakes sure, but it didn’t stop him from feeling like a damn fool, when he got back to Gibraltar he’d work on his form, go back to basics for a bit, get the rhythm back into him. It was in the last few hours he really started to crave his old squadmates, they’d been together for so long they were practically inseparable, they could read each other’s movements without having to speak. Alone they were strong, bootcamp on Reach made sure of that, but together…together they were an unstoppable force of nature, ODSTs were forged in the flames of hell, they had an almost symbiotic connection to each other. Laughing children caught his eye as a group ran past him, sharing a soccer ball between the six of them, villagers went about their daily work as if a deadly firefight hadn’t just broken out the day before. Sighing he gingerly began to stand, they’d spent an extra day here than they’d originally planned, apparently Dr. Ziegler wanted to spend more time caring for the people here, they’d get extracted in another hour but until then, he didn’t have much to do. Even McCree was taking the time to relax, the cowboy sat stretched out in a chair with his legs propped up on a nearby table, his hat covering his face as he presumably dozed off.

“Oh Mr. Kasporov, how are you feeling?” Zielger’s voice spoke up from the side, turning he saw her walking around the corner, seemingly frustrated with the technology in her hand.

“Feeling like I won’t die, so that’s a plus. Thanks for your care Doc.”

She flashed him a smile, “Its my duty, but I’ll always be happy to care for you.”

“Sounds like your asking me to injure myself.”

“Well you are keeping my job relevant.” They shared a laugh over that, before her smile quickly turned to a frown of anger as she shook the device in her hand, “Verdammt! Useless piece of technology.”

“Having a bit of trouble?”

She gave a sigh of defeat, “I’m trying to organize info on the patients I’ve had here with any medical spikes in the area and compare the data, but this blasted piece just…it’s frustrating.”

“Mind if I have a look? Tech was my specialty in my squad.”

“Gladly.” She handed the device off to Adrian as he began to fiddle with the machine commands, “I believe I recall you mentioning something about your specialization, but I must admit it comes as a bit of a surprise.”

“I may be blunt but I’m not an idiot.” He teased, mirth brimming at his words. “Despite appearances, I’d consider myself fairly educated compared to the rest of my squad…though I suppose that’s not saying much. I do enjoy reading, got high marks my first two years in high school, had the war not broken out I probably would’ve gone to college.”

“You’re first two years of high school, did you slack off the last two years?”

“Heh nah, summer of my second year is when I joined the army.”

“That…you’ve would’ve only been a child. Is it so desperate in your universe that they recruit kids? Though I suppose we aren’t one to talk when we have little Miss Hana Song in our ranks.”

“Legally no, technically yes. When I joined back in 39’ -2539 that is- there was already a draft for all people over the age of twenty-one. It wasn’t the wide-spread crisis it is now, but people could see the writing on the wall, how desperate it would become, so when I went to join, they weren’t focusing too much on my age. The recruiter even said that I should go back outside, have a birthday, come in and apply again. I was sixteen when I joined…Shipped off to bootcamp and…never…looked back I suppose.” He shrugged, he’d gotten so absorbed in telling his story he’d slacked off from fixing her device, turning back to it he continued to fiddle with it. A silence fell between them before Adrian remembered that he’d wanted to patch up what he’d said previously.

“Ah listen Doc, I uh- I apologize for our spat yesterday. It wasn’t professional, but more than that it was uncalled for…this isn’t my world. You were right, I’m not in a position to say what’s right or not.”

She was pleasantly surprised, she didn’t think he’d be one to apologize but she wouldn’t stand here and say she was flawless either, “I should also apologize, in the moment I said somethings that were…far too personal to your situation, things that I have a woeful lack of understanding in.” She said sincerely.

He gave a grin, “Eh no one’s perfect Doc, but you’re pretty close to it as one can be, so I wouldn’t worry about it too much.” He offhandedly remarked as he stared at the tablet, not noticing her faint blush before she quickly wiped it from her face. “Here you go, should be good as new.”

She graciously accepted the tablet, a bright smile on her face as everything was working as it should, “Thank you! I was quite worried earlier about losing my work, but this is a great help.”

“Anytime.”

They walked toward the temporary clinic she had set up, the conversation having took on a lighter note of Adrian’s accent.

“I must confess, I’m interested in your accent, its faint but sometimes when you speak it comes out stronger than usual.”

“My colony was home to mostly Russian immigrants; my late ancestors came from Russia sometime in the 2300s. Specifically where I don’t know, my grandma always wanted to return to a family estate that we supposedly had, but we never did.”

“That’s very interesting, can you speak any?” She tilted her head, an inquisitive look in her eyes.

“Dah malen'kiy -a bit-, my grandma was insistent that I learn it, I’m generally still fluent but more complex conversations can get overwhelming. I imagine its vastly butchered compared to the Russian here, save for maybe the writing, that hasn’t seemed to change much in my universe. Regardless of a colonies’ origins, eventually it splinters and takes on its own mannerisms, accents, and language.”

“That must make diplomacy a pain, is there a unifying language that everyone speaks?”

“Not really, though English, Chinese, German, and Spanish are the most common, high-ranking officials in the government or military have subdermal implants, one function of these implants is translation.”

“Amazing, do you have one?”

Adrian nodded, “Not as complex as high-ranking officials though. All military units have a small implant that helps with IFF, vehicle control, as well as radar and tracking, ODSTs have a slightly more advanced one that coordinates with our helmet’s HUD or our squad’s information. We have prototype translation software in our helmets, helps to organize units and squads among large battalions.”

“Faszinierend, damit du mich verstehen kannst?”

Adrian nodded, “Yep, understand you loud and clear, the software doesn’t go both ways however, so I can’t speak back.”

“I’m sorry I just find it so fascinating to be able to learn about all of this.”

Adrian shrugged, “I get it Doc, besides not like much else is happening until we’re picked up.”

When they entered the clinic, Adrian spotted his ODST armor in the corner, still bloodied from his earlier skirmish. Walking over to it, he began to gingerly remove the bandage from around his waist before beginning the long process of equipping his gear. Being outside of it made him feel raw, naked, he’d worn his armor for so long it was practically a second skin for him. In the corner of the temporary clinic were a stack of the crates he’d seen in the mine; McCree had probably gone earlier to collect them. It looked like his hunch was right, there was an assortment of supplies for a later group to move in, but now it was being used to help the people of the village. He looked over to Doctor Ziegler, she was talking with someone of the village, while using the device he’d been meddling with earlier, tying into their previous conversation from earlier it looked like she was fluent in Spanish. Though he supposed being multilingual would be a very useful trait for someone in her profession, especially if it were common for her to travel across the globe. Looking around for something to do but finding nothing, he sat down on top of one of the crates and reached into the pocket in his chest armor. Feeling past his flag, he felt further back until his fingers brushed across what felt like a barely perceptible pocket, reaching in he felt the object he was looking for. Held within his grasp as he pulled his hand back was a small, palm sized book, it would be an understatement to call it well-used. The pages were heavy tattered, the cover showed intense wear, despite this none of the lively color had faded from the book. On the cover laid an image of a vibrant yellow desert, dunes laying as far as the horizon with a single man walking on top the dunes, a camel in tow; above him was a clear blue sky that slowly morphed into an endless expanse of space littered with glowing stars. In bold blue lettering outlined in white, the worlds _The Land of Darkness_ laid within the void of space on the cover.

Flipping to the page he marked, his eyes slowly skimmed across the page, taking in every detail as he read it, it didn’t last long however as he felt eyes on him. Looking over his book, he saw Dr. Ziegler staring at the book with curious eyes, she only realized she had been staring when he put the book down.

“I was curious at what you were reading, is it interesting?” She walked over closer to him as he picked it up to show her.

“Well I’ve already read it before, many times in fact.” Adrian handed her the book, she lightly flipped through it, dozens of notes were scrawled in the borders of the book, a mix of English and Russian.

“Hmm I can’t tell.” Angela joked, in the back of her mind she wished she’d spent the time to learn Russian, most of the longer notes were scribbled in it and her curiosity was piqued as to what Adrian would write about in such detail. Turning to the cover page, she saw the publishing date marked 2482 from Golden Publishing, New Harmony. “Is it a favorite of yours?”

“Sorta? It’s not the worst story I’ve ever read, but it has a…personal connection that makes it worth reading.” Ziegler didn’t press and for that Adrian was thankful.

“What’s it about?”

“It’s about an ancient merchant on Earth from someplace called Baghdad, he returns to his home to find it ransacked by bandits, his wife killed, with nothing left to his name he sets out to travel to new lands, to find a purpose for everything that had happened. As he travels, he meets tribes of people he’d never heard of in his life, he documents their lifestyle while continuing to question his role in the world. Eventually he comes across some early Russian Vikings, eventually falling in love with one of the Vikings, he finds a new purpose and with the help of the Russians, avenges his family. Though in the end he’s torn between his old life and his new one, it has an ambiguous ending that hints that he might eventually return to Baghdad but it’s left up to the reader. Apparently, it’s based on some old merchant from the same time period, but I’ve never had the time to really look into it, a damn shame because I’ve always been curious about it.”

“Hmm, I think I may know the book its based off.”

Adrian turned to face here, surprise etched into his features, “No shit?”

Snickering at his surprise, she nodded, “I’d have to look into it more, but there’s a famous Muslim traveler named Ibn Fadlan, he was a merchant during one of the later Muslim Caliphates. Fadlan traveled across the Middle East, even reaching the tip of the Volga river where he meets the Rus, early Russians, and during his travels he writes down everything he knows, its actually the only information we have on a lot of Viking practices. The story you’re reading seems like a purposeful retelling of his travels, just a bit more spiced up with interesting events, I should be able to find it if you like.”

‘Well that’d be pretty damn great.”

“I do have a request though; I’d love to read your book. Its completely understandable if you don’t want to lend it, but to be able to say I’ve reading something from the future…its…surreal.”

Adrian retracted his hand a bit, bringing the book closer to him, looking at her bright blue eyes then to the tattered book he held, he sighed and handed it over to her. “Why not, I would say to be careful with it, but it can’t get much worse. I’m sure it’ll actually be safer in your hands than mine.”

A wide smile graced her lips, “I’ll try not to use it as gauze. As soon as I have some free time back at the base, I’ll look into getting you the Ibn Fadlan’s book.”

“Much appreciated Doc.”

Their conversation drifted into the mundane, time seemed to fly by until an encroaching rumbling could be heard throughout the village. Walking outside they saw the Orca flying over the canopy before slowly lowering itself into the middle of the village, the back hatch opened up as a dozen Overwatch grunts came out of it bringing with them more supplies.

“They’re here to guard against any Talon retaliations, you saw it yourself, they were packin’ quite a bit.” McCree spoke up as he came nearer to them, it made sense of course though it seemed a slight cruelty that the uninvolved villagers were trading one military force for another, but he understood quite well the necessity.

“By the way I’ve been meaning to ask, your get-up aside, that’s quite the peacemaker you’ve got on your hip.”

“I’ll let your comment about my clothes slide since I reckon you have a good taste in guns. Its custom made, got it modeled after the Colt Python.” His voice taking on a lighter tone as he talked about his prized possession, Arian let out a low whistle. Colts were still a famed collector’s item in his world, granted revolvers themselves were easily outpaced by any modern firearm so they were never used for any practical purpose, but they were still something to behold.

“Its larger than a typical Python, what’s it take?”

“The original Python takes .357, this takes .50 FMJ.”

“It doesn’t fuck around.”

“No it don’t. Expressly made with the purpose of packin’ one hell of a punch.” Adrian gave a nod of appreciation, he wasn’t as much into gun as others, but he could appreciate a work of art when he saw one, especially when they were so vital to his survival. Back at base maybe he’d see if McCree would let him fire off a few shots, it’d be one hell of a story to tell his squad back home.

As they boarded the Orca, Adrian noticed that McCree wasn’t following suite, “What’s wrong cowboy. All of a sudden you afraid of flying?”

“Someone’s gotta stay here and keep these whelps in check, ‘specially if Talon decided to send one of their big shots.”

“Try not to get yourself killed; it’d be a shame to lose that magnum of yours. Though I suppose you dying wouldn’t be so great either.” They shared a brief chuckle before Adrian turned to head back into the drop ship. Taking a seat, he could hear McCree barking orders outside, looking towards Doctor Ziegler he saw that she was already reading _The Land of Darkness_ , fully engrossed in the short time she’s been reading it. He still wanted, still needed to get back to his universe as soon as possible, but he thought to himself that maybe his time here wouldn’t be as awful as he first thought.


	9. Do You Think We're Alone?

**Watchpoint Gibraltar, Iberian Peninsula, Europe**

Sweat glistened off Adrian’s body as he laid another blow into the training dummy, it flew back with a crash. Nearly as soon as the drop ship had landed, Adrian had sought out a training room to brush up on his skills, to his delight there was a not only a well kept training room, but it had programable dummies to test a variety of events. Humans were an entirely different beast than the Covenant; in theory human should be far easier, we’re weaker, more fragile, less well armed and armored, but there is one things that humans had in spades that the Covenant lacked, ingenuity. It seemed like a strange thing to have, but it had been a fact proven throughout the war that the Covenant lacked great tactical thinking, had he been in his universe he could already imagine the arguing his statement would cause, but here in his head, he had all the time in the world to argue it out. The Elites are ferocious warriors not to be trifled with, far more refined than the damn brutes, but like all those in the Covenant, they relied too much on their power, their technology. For instance, if they hit a wall in the form of the UNSC, they’d rarely try any sort of pincher movement or think outside the box with a radical plan, no they’d simply throw bodies at the UNSC until the wall finally collapsed. First they send in the grunt as cannon fodder, when they eventually fail, they wait a bit before sending in more grunts but this time backed by jackals and maybe a couple elite minors, finally once the second wave has died, they send in the heavy armor supported by the main force of elites or brutes. The Covenant are predictable, they often do the same plans over and over again, they’ve never been forced to adapt to a changing situation because their technology so vastly surpasses our own. Its why they often try to avoid ground confrontations because they actually have a chance at losing, looking at the statistics, the UNSC have won a far greater amount of ground battles than space battles though compared to the victories of the Covenant it doesn’t mean much. The point of his whole inner monologue he supposed was to justify his own shortcomings back in Peru, he’d grown so used to fighting the Covenant, to combating their stale tactics that he’d grown rusty fighting clever opponents, though it’d probably be better phrased as unpredictable opponents.

So he’d set these targets to be as erratic as possible, the closest to human as they could get, in the short time he’d been training he’d already been noticing a great improvement in his form, all the insurrectionist training on Reach was coming back to him. Footsteps alerted him to the final dummy coming up behind him, he instinctively bent down and turned to face the threat behind him, the sound of whooshing air above him telling him the bot had swung and clearly missed. As he stood back up, he wrapped his right arm around the dummy’s outstretch robotic limb and threw a series of punches to the robot’s head with his left hand. Bringing his right leg behind the training dummy he pushed it onto it’s back, with a fluid motion his brought his boot over the dummy’s neck and pressed down with all his force until a cracking resounded through the room with the robot going offline. Running a hand through his disheveled, sweaty hair and looked around at his handywork, over half a dozen training dummies laid in various states of destruction around the room. A mirror in the corner drew his attention, he saw himself in his brutalized entirety, what caught his eyes was that despite the passage of time and multitude of scars, the flaming skull of his ODST tattoo was still visible on his right bicep. Frankly, it was baffling to him that it still looked as vibrant as the day he got it, for now he ignored that one-in-a-million chance and simply appreciated having such a personal reminder of home. He took a swig of the water bottle laying on the bench, his dry throat greedily accepted the cold water, but it didn’t quench the specific thirst he had.

“Athena, there’s a city close by right?” Adrian questioned as he wiped his body down with a crumpled towel.

“Affirmative. It’s the city of Gibraltar from which this territory draws its name.”

“All right, and where’s the nearest bar or pub or whatever in this city?”

“There is a fully stocked bar on base located in the recreation area.”

“Eh I’m still not on speaking terms with most of the members here, besides, I’d like to see Earth…I’d like to see what its like before it’ll will all get destroyed. This is probably my only chance to see humanity’s crown jewel in all its glory.”

Athena was silent a moment before responding, “I’ll send the information to the computer in your room, might I also recommend wearing a set of casual clothing…if such an outfit for you exists. Before you leave however, Winston has told me he has urgent news regarding your situation, he requests you see him as soon as possible.”

He headed back to his room to find set of casual clothing laid out upon his bed, probably Athena’s doing, and while he found it scary how fitting the clothes were, the gratitude for being able to blend in outweighed his unease. A quick shower was taken as well as a mental note to continue his work on bridging the technology between his world and this one, he felt he’d been making a decent amount of progress. The hardest part was over known, the initial connection, all that was left was stabilizing the connection and making sure that the data was cross compatible from his world. He wasn’t too worried about future progress; the largest hurdle had been crossed now everything would sort of snowball forward in a much more rapid pace than he’d initially had. Pushing that to the back of his mind, he began heading to the ape’s lab, no matter how often he told himself that the ape…Winston held no history with the brutes, he couldn’t shake his personal revulsion at seeing the hairy humanoid. Walking into the room, he saw the aforementioned ape frantically typing into his computer, dozens of screens being pulled up at once showcasing various statistics and news articles.

“What’s this urgent news? Have you finally found a way for me to get back home?”

Winston turned, a nervous look in his eyes, “Well not exactly, though it does seem to bear some resemblance to your situation. I’ve been looking into mapping your arrival through any means necessary, one of those was using the unique radiation signatures emitted by your slipspace technology through various testing site around the world such as-“

“Spare met the details.”

“Ah right of course – as mentioned your slipspace technology emits a unique radiation, unlike anything we’ve seen here in this world. Well I decided to see if there have been any previous recordings of such a radiation signature…there’s been several.”

Adrian’s jaw dropped, the myriad of possibilities rushing through his mind, most of the scenarios more often than not ended with disaster. “You’re fucking kidding me right?”

Winston’s face took on a grim look, “I’m afraid not, though a silver lining exists in that most of these reports indicate that the object in question that came from such slipspace ruptures were largely junk, and oddly enough all these events occurred within a period of a few months. Based on what you’ve told us, I would assume it’s loose bits of hull or armor that came loose during battle and were lost during the slipspace jump.”

His mind immediately raced back to what he’d seen at the research lab, the fragment that had seemed so familiar yet so distant, he’d brushed it off as nothing more than a curiosity but now he wasn’t so sure.

“Wait so does this mean that travel here has occurred outside of my own experience? That at any time a poor slipspace jump could end up in this world?” Winston nodded, the implications of that were staggering. “And…if I came from not just a different universe but a different time as well, there’s no limitations on when someone could jump here right? In my world, someone could do a slipspace jump weeks after I disappeared…but appear before I arrived here.”

“Theoretically yes, there’s also the chance that they don’t end up here, rather they could end up in any number of alternate universes.”

“Go back, you mentioned that only ‘most’ of the reports indicated junk, what about the rest?”

“They were…unable to find any debris.”

Unable to find the debris, of course that could mean any number of things, but his mind immediately jumped to other lifeforms that had been in the same situation he was only they hadn’t been immediately captured. It could be other ODSTs from his squad if they had been caught in the jump, or it could also be Covenant, there was no telling what came through those rifts.

“What are we waiting for? We need to find what came through, it could be the damned Covenant, if it is there’s no telling what they’ll do!” Adrian yelled.

“We can’t do anything, not yet. We know there might be something, but we don’t know where to look, if these Covenant did come through, they could be hiding anywhere. We don’t have the power, authority, or numbers to go on a world-wide search looking.”

“That shouldn’t matter, if they exist on this planet, there’s only one thing you should be ding, and that’s wiping them off the face of the Earth. They need to be eradicated, no matter the cost.” He slammed his fists on the table, these damn fools, they wouldn’t be able to handle what the Covenant had. Sure, it might just be one or two, but what if it was more, what if they’re scouts for the express purpose of crossing realties, an entire Covenant armada could come through at any moment and this Earth would fall in days.

For the first time since he’s been here, he saw Winston’s eye grow hard with a cold edge, “We can’t do anything. When I hear something more I will tell you, until then kept yourself under control Kasporov.” Adrian growled under his breath, now he needed a drink more than ever.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The walk had cooled him off, he was still angry at the lack of action Overwatch was taking but he’d also come to face reality, they were right. The cost of scouring the globe would be enormous, especially for an illegal group that was supposed to be disavowed. His blood was still simmering, he decided to take his mind off the previous events and focus on finding the bar that Athena had told him, a place called “The Waterfront Lounge”. Taking in the city, it was far different than anything he’d ever seen before, the cities he knew were often filled with towering skyscrapers, a labyrinthian layout of glass crisscrossed at every point with bridges. This city was wholly the opposite, the highest buildings were only a few stories high, all the buildings were brick with red tiled roofs. People bustled around him heading to their own destinations, he noticed what appeared to be several humanoid robots among the crowd, he figured they were the ‘Omnics’ that Genji had mentioned his first day here. Despite that, it still seemed like something out of science fiction, it was strange how despite the vast differences in time, this world had made some startling technological advancements. Eventually with the aid of Athena’s directions he’d managed to find the bar easy enough. True enough to its name it was hosted a stunning view of the bay, lights from the city glistened off the water giving it an ethereal feeling. The serenity was almost unnerving to him, he started to question his choice to come to the city, it was dreamlike for him to be walking through such a peaceful city, even when he was on leave, the cities he visited were still taught with a palpable tension. No one was sure whether the Covenant would appear the next day or whether they’d have one more day of peace, yet here, there was no fear of that, everyone was cheerful, unafraid of tomorrow. Walking into the building Adrian picked a seat at the bar, it gave off an almost cozy feeling, most of the interior being made of varnished dark wood.

“What can I get for you?” An older man spoke with a heavy accent, he had full head of black hair peppered with grey, a well-groomed mustache adorned his face, the man was probably in his late fifties, sharp blue eyes graced his features.

“Rum on the rocks, don’t care much for the brand as long as it’s smooth.”

The bartender reached under the counter for the bottle, “Heh, that kind of day amigo?”

“Like you wouldn’t fucking believe, just when stuff starts to get settled something else has to come rear its ugly head your way.”

“I think I understand your troubles, military right?” At Adrian’s raised eyebrow he elaborated, “The scars on your arms, the way you carry yourself, the darting eyes, I served too you know. Once you do it never quite leaves, always there in the back of your mind, I can spot military man a mile away. Here, on the house.”

Adrian smiled, “Much appreciated.” The spiced alcohol flowed down his throat like an old friend, “You mentioned you served?”

“Aye, served in the Great War. Lost both an arm and a leg to those damned omnics.” It was then Adrian noticed that the man’s left arm was a bit stiffer, less natural than his right arm, from a brief glance though he never would’ve guessed it was a prosthetic. The man continued, “I try not to hold a grudge I know it’ll get me nowhere but its hard, especially when you see them omnics walking every which way as though we didn’t just fight a war.”

“I know better than you would think, old habits die hard eh?”

The older man cackled, “You’re right about that. What brings you to Gibraltar, business or pleasure?”

“Work I suppose, though not of my own choosing.”

“It rarely is. I didn’t think we had much of a military presence in Gibraltar though.”

With a quick lie on the spot, Adrian knew it was best to leave it simple, “Classified, though not for anything serious, just some government gibberish that makes it technically classified. You know how it is…sorry I never got your name.”

“Franco.”

They shook hands, “Adrian. What’s your story then?”

Franco stopped cleaning the glass in his hand, “Well I was born in Seville, Spain. Spent half my life in the city, when I got out of college I wanted to experience something new. So I traveled the world for a bit, never staying in place for very long though that ended when my sister just up and left her daughter. She’d always had troubles, whether it was money or relationships it felt like she always had a problem on her tail. I dropped everything I was doing to fly here to Gibraltar, I took my niece in as my own daughter and I’ve been raising her ever since, even turned this old bar around to live a stable life.”

“I’m sure some words from a complete stranger won’t mean much, but it takes a lot to drop everything you have for someone else; I have a deep amount of respect for that.”

“Gracias, I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. Though I will admit, I don’t mind the free work she does when she helps out around the bar.” He cracked a grin at that. “Speak of the devil.” A young woman walked in from the door behind the counter, she had dark red hair with tanned skin, much like her uncle she had piercing blue eyes, though hers were much darker. If he had to guess, she was probably a few years younger than himself, mid-twenties at the earliest.

“I hope you’re not boring our customers again uncle, sometimes I think you talk to keep hearing your own voice.”

With exaggerated sadness Franco places his hand over his heart, “Oh how you wound me Casandra. I’ll have you know Adrian and I have been enjoying a very interesting conversation.”

She rolled her eyes with a smile, “Yeah sure okay, whatever you say.” She turned towards Adrian, jokingly speaking with false whispers, “If he’s holding you against your will blink twice.”

“Aye get out of here chiquilla, clean the tables.” They both laughed while Adrian sat there with a smile on his lips, it reminded him of how his family used to be. “She can be a rascal but she’s a good girl.”

They talked for a bit longer, Adrian had found himself quite enjoying Franco’s company. The man had a charming personality hat made him very easy to talk to, though he supposed he wouldn’t be a good bar tender if he weren’t. Though perhaps more than that Franco’s own life had resonated with his own reminding him of how things used to be, he wasn’t living vicariously through Franco, but he’d found a man with whom he could empathize. After some time had passed, Adrian had bid his new acquittance farewell and begun to head back to the base, he was feeling much calmer than when he had left. Adrian decided he’d go back soon, maybe in a few days before his next mission if he had the heads up. He resolved to finish his own personal project when he got back to the base, it wouldn’t do anyone any good if he left it unfinished, besides he was so close to completing it, it’d be a shame if he simply let it falter now. Though looking back Adrian had wished he hadn’t been so flippant at that time for nothing could have ever prepared Adrian for the events that would occur in the coming days. 


	10. Up Jumped the Devil

**Watchpoint Gibraltar, Iberian Peninsula, Europe**

Adrian closed his door behind him as he walked out of his room, he’d managed to finish overcoming the tech barrier between his world and this one, as soon as he’d gotten back from the bar last night, he’d spent all night working tirelessly to finally finish it. Hopefully the data that could be taken from his pod’s internal system could be useful in expediting his trip home, at this point he’d take whatever he could get. When he’d alerted Athena, she’d requested he go to Winston’s lab immediately, the reason he knew without being told. There had been an almost morbid curiosity with his world when he told them that he has visual data to back up his reality, Winston in particular had been the most interested in what he could infer from the future. So he was going to upload his visual data for all to see, though presumably it would only be the tight-knit group of the higher officials, the same ones that knew he wasn’t from this world in the first place. Walking down the crew quarters hallway, he saw the young girl Hana walking down the hallway.

“Hey old man, where ya headed?”

“Oh you know pip-squeak, around.” She gave an exaggerated pout. “Fine, I finally finished making an adaptable technology to be able to cross between the tech from our two worlds. Winston wants me to show him the visual data from my world that my helmet recorded.” Holding up his helmet in his hands to emphasize the point.

“Oooh interesting. Mind if I tag along? I’ve wanted to know what the future looks like.”

He stopped walking, “Listen kid, my world…it’s not in a good place. Whatever utopian idealization you have in your head, you can just throw that out the window, forget it completely. I think it’d be best if you go skip out on this, go talk with your friends, do your homework, whatever kids your age do these days.”

“I told you, I’m not a kid! I’m in Overwatch to fight the baddies, I can handle whatever you think is so bad. Besides if I don’t see it now, I’ll just find some other way to watch it.”

He sighed, he doubted the latter since it was all stored on his helmet, but he also didn’t want to risk her rifling through his shit to sate her childish desires.

“All right fine, I warned you, but if Winston gets on my ass about this, your out.” She nodded and they walked in silence towards Winston’s lab. Along the way, Adrian spied one woman he’d seen on his first day here, he almost didn’t recognize her without her blue power armor, but the distinctive tattoo over her right eye was a dead giveaway.

“Hey pip-squeak, who’s that?”

“Fareeha? She’s the security chief here, goes out into the field too when the mission’s dangerous enough. Why? Did she catch your eye?” Hana teased.

“Nah, we uhh… didn’t have the greatest introduction. I bashed her face, pushed her over some railing, knocked her out, and stole her weapon, haven’t seen her since then and I haven’t been able to try and smooth things over with her.”

“Geez old man, you sure know how to introduce yourself to a lady. No wonder you seem so sad and lonely.”

“No mercy huh, going straight at the heart? Though just for future reference, I tend to be popular with the woman in my world. I never let them leave disappointed.” He winked with a grin.

“Eugh gross! TMI old man.” She stuck out her tongue in disgust, he laughed as they walked into a conference room in Winston’s lab. The ape sighed when he saw Hana with him but said nothing, it seemed he understood the same thing as Adrian, she’d just get it some other way if not now. Looking around he saw his prediction was true, there were only a handful of key individuals, McCree, Genji, Dr. Ziegler, Oxton, Fareeha, the crotchety dwarf, and an absolute behemoth of a man he hadn’t met yet. Hana broke off from him and went to Dr. Ziegler, he saw them animatedly chatting about something he couldn’t hear.

The ape waddled up to the front of the room, “I appreciate all of you coming, the reason is that our newest addition to Overwatch has been able to bring forth the visual recordings he mentioned previously. Hopefully with this, we can not only gleam a greater understand of the world Mr. Kasporov comes from, but also how to better integrate him into the team and more effectively utilize his talents.” With nothing to be said, Adrian walked up to the front of the room and laid his helmet upon the desk, he attached a series of cables to the back of his helmet that fell from the ceiling. Brining up his TACPAD, he selected a series of videos starting with the earliest one he had, moving his way through the crowd he found a set next to Dr. Ziegler and gave her a brief smile as he sat down.

It went dark around him as the lights around the room faded out, the glow from the screen encased everyone in a faint light. The first video started, it showcased a steel room lined with drop pods, as the camera turned it showcased dozens of other dressed in a similar armor to Adrian’s, though most had small stylistic deviations to their armor to make them unique.

Winston spoke up, “So these are the other ODSTs then? When does this take place in the timeline of your war?”

“About the middle so far, it started in 2531 and when I came here it was 2552. The bottom right marks the date as 2543, so at this point humanity has already been losing for a while.”

Adrian decided to leave out that this was also one of his first missions as an ODST, he remembered it clearly. The absolute hellscape of it all, they landed just outside a city though it could hardly be called that anymore, the entire place was practically leveled, any plans they had after landing meant nothing in the chaos of it all. In the video, a loud blaring blasted through the speakers, the entire screen flashed red with the alarm as ODSTs jumped into their pods. The camera entered the closest one, as Adrian looked around in the pod the camera emphasized had tight the drop pod truly was. In the drop pod a weathered face came over the screens, it was Major Hansberg, “ _The ground forces have already engaged the Covenant and frankly they’re getting the absolute shit kicked out of them. As you know we don’t leave men behind, especially not to be so utterly slaughtered by those hinge-heads. Now, there’s only one question left, how are we ODSTs going to leave this massive rust-bucket?”_

All at once an echoing chant resounded through the entirety of the ship, _“FEET FIRST INTO HELL.”_ There was the sound of hatches being released immediately before the camera shook with the jolt of the drop pod falling, as the camera regained focus it stared clear out into the void of space. The sight drew gasps from almost everyone in the room, through the glass were dozens of bulky, black ships in orbit, in white lettering _UNSC_ was printed across their hulls while dozens among dozens of drop pods soared through space. In the distance, contrasting against the darkness of space stood sleek ships of virtuous white, the ships were unleashing a barrage of weapons fire upon the planet. The planet itself was brutalized beyond any recognition, the surface seemed covered in fire and ruins, the closer to the ground the drop pods fell, the clearer the devastation on the planet became.

“ _Remember men, we need to push to the outskirts of the city and form a line to hold the Covenant back. Once formed, the 4 th armored battalion can come from the East and clear out these covvie fucks.”_

The camera shook as the drop pod landed with a crashing bang, the door on the drop pod immediately blasted off to reveal the city…or what was left of it. The city in question was little more than piles of rubble a few stories tall, what had once been a city of half a million people had become totally obliterated over a year of constant conflict. Adrian jumped out of his pod as weapons fire went off around him, the ground was barren due to the constant fighting leaving only a layer of corpses and dust. The camera panned around to show marines and ODSTs dropping dead like flies, a marine next to him was blown apart as series of needles ran up his chest. There was more gasping in the room as they saw just how easily the Covenant weaponry tore through the marine’s armor. Adrian fired at vague outlines in the distance marked by his IFF indicator; Seraphs and Longswords were dogfighting overhead, a Seraph crashed in the background in volatile explosion. It seemed impossibly hectic as Adrian continued to move up with the ODSTs, more continuing to fall to the unseen aliens. An ODST directly in front of the camera went down with a horrible scream as a beam rifle tore the man’s leg off, Adrian tried to drag the man out of fire but didn’t make it far as another beam ripped open the man’s chest. The brutal scene continued for several minutes, a slow progression marked with countless deaths, eventually the first of the Covenant made themselves known to Overwatch. Grunts and Jackals marked the first wave of defense, the camera showed as they were swiftly put down by Adrian and the other ODSTs, any of the surviving covvies were executed with a brutality unseen by the member of Overwatch.

Angela leaned over, whispering to him, “Is that…allowed? I know that these Covenant are worse, but are there no laws about prisoners?”

Adrian snorted, “There are no rules in this war, it’s rare for either side to take prisoners. Most of these soldiers of lost families, friends, loved ones, this brutality is how they get their revenge in their own way.”

Through the smokey haze a bluish light could be seen through the smoke, to Angela is sounded like the crackling raw energy. The light disappeared briefly before an ear-splitting scream was heard, as the smoke cleared for the camera, Angela could see an baffling tall creature, it was at least eight to nine feet tall with maroon armor and blue lights decorating his ornamental head piece. It was wielding what could only be described as a sword of pure light and energy, said sword was currently piercing a poor marine through the abdomen. The multi-chinned creature hefted the impaled marine off the ground with a primordial roar, it then tossed the corpse towards the camera, towards Adrian.

 _“Jesus Christ it’s a Zealot! Everyone focus fire on that fucking zealot, I don’t want its own fucking mother to be able to recognize it when were done!”_ Someone yelled, the terror and anger in their voice was unlike anything she’d ever heard before, the whole video playing out in front of her was unlike anything she’d ever seen.

All at once every soldier in the area opened fire on the singular alien, the cacophony of weapons was absolutely deafening. At first it seemed like they’re weapons weren’t even harming it, the bullets bouncing off like rubber pellets, the Zealot rolled and sliced into the nearest marine, slicing the man in half with one smooth motion. When it stood back up, she noticed that something flashed over its entire body, turning to Adrian he briefly told her that the Covenant had developed energy shielding often fully covering the elites, such as the Zealot in the video, though after enough punishment their shields would break. Once the Zealot’s shields had broken, the hail of bullets tore through it like paper, chunks of its body were breaking off its body, its sword wielding arm looked to be hanging on by barely a thread of muscle. It fell to the ground in a pathetic gory heap, the soldiers barely paid it any mind as they continued towards the city outskirts. It was hard for Angela to wrap her ahead around the idea that it took so much firepower to take down one soldier of the Covenant army. The struggle, the insanity, it had seemed endless, like there would be nothing at the end of this battle, anytime it seemed like progress was being made they’d hit another hurdle. After the Zealot came a squad of lower ranking elites followed by what Adrian had called Wraiths, their plasma rounds arching through the air until landing with hellish fury.

“ _We’re not gonna be able to fucking make it with those defenses, we need to call in the armor NOW!”_

It seemed that his wish was answered when the loudest bang Angela had ever heard thundered through the room, the camera turned to see a trio of massive, heavily armored tanks crested the mound of rubble, they began to lay down a line of heavy artillery, absolutely annihilating the wraiths lined up in front of the soldiers. The marines and ODSTs had finally secured the outskirts after what felt like the most grueling thirty minutes Angela had ever experienced. Though the most shocking part was the aftermath, entire squads had been lost, platoons were operating at half capacity, two large companies had been sent to take the outskirts and fourty percent of the force had been killed or wounded.

The camera showed the ODSTs intermixed with the marines, listening to the Captain outline their next moves, “ _Alright, we’ve suffered some casualties but we’re doing far better than initially planned, that’s because I’ve got the toughest god damn sons o’ bitches under my command. Alright, check your ammo, prep your shit, we’re moving on to group with 3 rd Battalion._” Everyone save Adrian was in disbelief, shocked at blunt acceptance of the casualties and the immediate moved to continue. The video continued, jumping around to various points across the war, exploring all aspects of Adrian’s nine years as an ODST. From being deep behind enemy lines to assassinate a high-ranking officer, to extracting significant data from heavily controlled enemy territory, to putting down groups of insurrectionists, it showed all that was few and far between.

Winston was frankly overwhelmed, he’d never doubted Adrian’s story, but only hearing the stories it was hard to place them in context to what he experienced. Actually seeing it was an entirely different experience, to be told humanity is facing extinction is wrenching, but to see the power with which the Covenant wield puts a heavy weight on one’s shoulders. Most immediately applicable however was the versatility of the ODSTs, again he never doubted what Adrian said he did, but when an unknown variable pops into existence, into a team he’s meticulously picked, he understandably erred on the side of caution. Though now with a decade’s worth of footage, tactics, plans, first-hand experience, he truly felt that Adrian was suited for whatever job he was needed for. Winston hated to think like this, it made him feel as though he was taking advantage of Adrian’s skillset, but he felt that out of anyone in Overwatch, Adrian would be the one to understand necessity. A light beeping on the console next to him caught his attention, Winston turned to and quickly skimmed through the files, his face hardened into a grim expression.

After hours of handpicked footage, the data had finally caught up to the invasion of Earth, for everyone in the room it had been a surreal experience to see and hear the reports, to see the one planet they’d known all their life being bombarded by Covenant forces. The visual feed had cut when Adrian entered the slip space rupture, leaving everyone with the final image of New Mombasa set ablaze. For Adrian it had been an unusual experience to relieve so much of his earlier life, though he’d also found himself laughing at his own inexperience early on. Turning he saw the Dr. Ziegler was a bit paler than usual, an odd look in her eyes, Hana was no longer next to her, he’d heard her leave not long after the first glassing took place.

“I uhmm – I apologize Adrian, I mean uhm Mr. Kasporov, but I need some time to…settle everything that I’ve seen.” Adrian didn’t blame her, decades into the war and it could still be hard to wrap his own head around everything that happened. Most everyone else was in the same boat as her, leaving without a word that he didn’t get a few nods of understanding and sympathy from McCree and Genji. He was preparing himself to leave as well when Winston called him over, an odd sense of urgency underlying his words.

“Adrian, remember what we discussed earlier about the ruptures? Well I’ve been monitoring places where those ruptures happened but nothing was found…look here, a string of recent vanishings in the vicinity of where this rupture occurred. A rupture immediately followed by a series of disappearances; I don’t think these people went missing…”

“They were murdered.” Adrian finished.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Near the Southern Border of the Republic of Sakha, Russia**

“Oh my lords, I know not how I have ended up in this forsaken land, my body and soul stained with the heretical existence of this world. My mind often wanders, questioning my purpose is this land so far from home, the reason that I have found myself here surviving among the filth of this frozen hellscape. Though I have come to the belief…that this is my test…I must believe there is a reason for this suffering, I have given my life to the Great Journey and for what I am rewarded? Or so…that is what I thought, but now I understand. I have come to find my purpose here, to prove myself worthy unto thou o’ great prophets. I must cleanse this world of the profane, the heretical blemish that exists on this planet like a disease, I swear to you o great ones it shall be done, I shall rend their flesh from their bones with my hands when it is necessary. Fear not, for I have already begun.”


	11. The Devil and I - Part 1

**Neryungrinsky District, Republic of Sakha, Russia**

The sun shone down with brilliant radiance; its warmth was a welcome reprieve from the harsh weather they’d been suffering the past few days, it was a beautiful day for fishing. Alexei took in a deep breath of the crisp cool air, there was a distinct smell to the cold air, he couldn’t put it into words, only that it was refreshing, reassuring in a way. A vast forest of pine trees surrounded him, but just over the horizon in front of him, one could start to see the clearing where the lake sat. He could already picture its glistening blue water, the calming sound of lapping waves, excitement within him was already building at the thought of spending such a day out in the fantastic weather. Snow crunched behind him, he turned to see a man walking several paces behind him, the man’s features reflecting Alexei’s own, dirty blonde hair, dark brown eyes, a strong jawline with a light stubble. The biggest difference was that the man had always lagged behind, not just physically slow but…in thought and mind as well, but Alexei had never heeded their words, they were brothers and he’d always love his brother.

“Come on Kirill! What will happen if the fish all fill their bellies with flies before we get there? Do you need some help brother?”

Kirill gave him a lopsided grin, “Hah, I’m fine, but I…think of my bootstraps is coming loose.”

“We can fix it at the lake, leave it for now.” They continued walking through the sparkling snow, crunching under foot. When they crested a slight hill, the view opened up before them, a wide lake laid out before them like it’s always been waiting for them, its shimmering blue watering stretching out for miles. Alexei patted his brother on the shoulder and they begun their trek down the hill, he turned to his brother.

“The Harvest Festival is coming up, are you playing to ask Sasha out with you?”

Kirill turned his head to the side, a faint blush gracing his cheeks, “I…Uhh…not sure. I want too, I really do…”

“But you’re nervous, scared even. Everyone is nervous when they find someone they like, the fear of ‘what will happen if they reject me’.” Kirill nodded, “Then tell me this, would you rather live the rest of your life wondering whether she likes you until someone from a neighboring village comes and takes her away forever. Or would you rather know for certain, to put these feelings to rest, if she rejects you it will hurt, but then you can move on with the knowledge in your heart that you tried. Though if you ask me…I don’t think she’ll say no.” Alexei winked, he’d know about his brother’s crush for years, it was hilarious that younger siblings always think they’re being sneaky, that no one else see’s what their heart yearns for. He did know that Sasha cared deeply for Kirill, they were both kind souls longing for something more in life. If Kirill could overcome his shyness, he had no doubts that they’d be happy together and most importantly, he trusted her to care for his brother.

Kirill had a serious look on his face, Alexei knew it meant that he was mulling something over with deep thought, “Alright, when we get back to the village, I’m going to go straight to Sasha’s house and ask her to go with me to the festival.” He ended with a firm nod, as if solidifying his thoughts.

They were almost to the bottom of the hill when Kirill face planted into the snow, it seemed he’d accidently stepped on his loose bootstrap.

“Do you need help with it?” Alexei asked.

“No no no, I can do it.”

“Alright, I’ll go ahead and start setting up at the edge of the lake okay?”

Kirill let out a string of unintelligible words as he put all his focus into his boots, Alexei walked down the rest of the hill and found a perfect spot right on the edge of the lake. A tiny bit of the snow had melted giving them one of the few grassy spots to set up, he unloaded all his gear and rolled his shoulders, the relief was immediate. Alexi began setting up their equipment, after a few minutes he looked around to see that Kirill still wasn’t with him. Strange, though maybe the bootstrap was in worse shape than he thought, Kirill could easily get absorbed in something for hours if he couldn’t get it right, maybe it as broken and he was trying to fix it himself. Alexei scoffed to himself, that was probably it, he loved his brother dearly but sometimes he’d had to remind his brother that there was more to the world than the one thing he was focused on. He began walking back to the hill only to see that while the equipment was still there, Kirill wasn’t. The gear was exactly where it had been when’d he left to head down to the lake, but there was no sign of Kirill anywhere.

“Kirill? Where’d you go?” Alexei yelled with worry in his voice, his brother wasn’t much for pranks, so he probably wasn’t hiding in the trees. Maybe he’d just had to take a shit or something…maybe he was… he didn’t know. His pace quickened as he continued yelling, he ran towards the abandoned supplies laying upon the hill. There were odd prints around the bag, ones he’d never seen in the thirty years he’d been living and exploring this forest, but most worrying was the crimson stained snow where Kirill had ben sitting. He touched the stain with one finger, it was still warm, in his mind he already knew what it had to be, but in his heart, he refused to believe it. Despite that, his brain still questioned everything, where had Kirill gone, why had he gone, if this blood was…his…then where had he disappeared to, where had he managed to go in such a short time, his eyes darted back to the unusual footprints, the pieces in his mind began to fall into place but there were still so many questions left unanswered. There was a sound behind him, he snapped his body to look but saw nothing, he slowly stood up, frantically looking in every direction. He tried to call out for Kirill, but he’d yelled so much earlier all that came out was a raspy cough, another sound behind him and once again he twisted his body only to see an empty forest. He started backing up, away from the lake and deeper into the forest, “I’m sorry Kirill, I’m so sorry, but I…I have to go.” He desperately mumbled to himself, he thought he saw a glimmering movement out of the corner of his eye but saw nothing when he turned, that was the final straw for him staying.

With all his force he sprinted into the forest, his legs pounding against the ground, snow crunching underneath him with every thundering step. The further into the forest he got the darker it seemed to become, he tripped over a root sticking out ground and tumbled into the ground. He prayed that someone would hear him cry out for them, for anyone to save him from this nightmare brought to life. Face down in the snow, he could hear footsteps coming towards him, ignoring the reality he’d just ran from he instead clang to delusion, he eagerly got up ready to see Kirill walking towards him with the same lopsided grin he’d always had. But it wasn’t Kirill, the smile that had graced Alexei’s face morphed into one of abstract terror, his mouth opened like a maw to scream but he never got the chance. Immediately a pain like nothing he’d ever felt before burst through his abdomen, as he was lifted off the ground the pain in his stomach grew worse, unimaginably worse. He briefly opened his eyes that had been tightly shut from the pain, he’d immediately regretted the action, what he saw was the devil incarnate, it had to be, he had thought that there was nothing on God’s Earth though could inflict such anguish, such terror, oh how wrong he had been.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Skies above Republic of Sakha, Russia**

Adrian paced the deck of the Orca, he’d been worrying about this, thinking of contingencies for if the Covenant came to this Earth but his mind drew a blank. He could tell Overwatch everything he knew but that wouldn’t matter, the UNSC had the same knowledge for thirty years and look where it led them.

“Would you stop pacing already, it’ll get you nowhere.” Spoke the security chief, Amari, she sat on one of the troop benches wringing her hands.

“Don’t think you know what were up against, the videos are nothing to the real thing.” Adrian snapped back.

She sighed, “Listen, I’m one of the few members of Overwatch with actual military experience like yourself, I’ve long given up trying to understand what to expect in war. But you out of everyone should know that you need a clear head.”

He sighed alongside her, “You’re right…I’ve done similar ops dozens of hundreds of times, but I’ve never felt so uncertain, like its slipping through my fingers before my eyes.”

“Because the stakes are different, there’s no telling the consequences. Whereas from what I’ve seen, shits already fucked beyond hope. Sorry if I’m overstepping.”

He chuckled darkly at that, “Nah…you understand it better than most, when its someplace you’ve never heard of before, theses almost this disconnect that maybe its not even real. As soon as that terror comes home…to a familiar place it feels different, but even now this is different from when the Covenant attacked my Earth. I think its because…I hoped that when my world eventually falls, this one will still be here standing.”

Thunderous steps brought his head to the front of the drop ship where Winston and the behemoth he’d come to know as Reinhardt walked from. Adrian walked towards the ape; they didn’t have the time to formulate a plan as they’d almost immediately hauled ass out of Gibraltar when they got the news.

“So what’s the plan? If there’s something from my world here it could be anywhere in the forests of Russia.”

“Well most of the reported disappearances have come from these three villages here, as you can see they’re all relatively clustered in this one area. Whatever is causing this can’t be too far outside of this area, we’re going to land right outside the largest of these villages and attempt to interview the residents here, find out if there’s a common thread connecting their stories.”

“I doubt any of them will speak anything other than Russian this deep into the wilderness.”

Winston smiled, showing his massive feral teeth, Adrian felt himself flinch from instinct, “It’s a good thing we have you here then, Angela’s told me your fluent.”

He questioned what else Dr. Ziegler had told this ape, but he pushed that out of his head instead focusing on the fact that he’d be acting as a glorified interpreter.

“Der’mo” he cursed under his breath.

The mountain of a man, Reinhardt let out a bellowing laughing and slapped him on the back, “There you go raumfahrer!”

“Raumfahrer?”

“Space-man! Fitting no?”

Adrian groaned; the rest of the flight was blissfully short. When the hatch at the back of the door began to slide out, Adrian saw a crowed of curious onlookers peering in. Given Overwatch’s tumultuous legal status, they couldn’t set up a teatime to organize, so they’d just have to drop in unannounced much to the confusion of probably everyone in the village. Adrian grabbed his helmet from the chair next to him and slipped it on, polarizing his faceplate from the bright afternoon sun. Reinhardt and Winston walked out first, whispering began to stir amongst the crowd, among their hushed tones he could pick out ‘overwatch’, probably from some of the older villagers that lived during the prime of Overwatch’s time. Wooden cottages and multi-story cabins practically encircled them, it seemed to be rather small community but larger than some of the independent villages he’d seen back home on some of the lesser populated colonies. Amari and himself followed the others, stopping at the base of the ramp where the crowed began, Winston shot him a look.

Sighing he spoke as loud and clearly as he could, “We are here to help, we know of the people vanishing in this village, as well as the others. I know that many of you might wish to deal with the problem yourself, you feel that you can’t trust others to do it for you and I understand that, I do. But what you’re dealing with is far beyond what you can handle,” grumblings of discontent grew through crowd, “I say this because I don’t wish for more of you to disappear. What is out there in those woods is dangerous, frighteningly so, it is like nothing you have ever encountered before. With this said, I ask with the deepest respect that you help us find those missing…because they might not be coming back.” Adrian finished, it’d been a while since he’d had to speak so much in Russian, he stumbled a few times and felt that much of his pronunciation was harsh. He’d also decided to leave out the fact that these people were not missing but almost certainly dead, it was cruel, but the prospect of survival would hopefully push them into helping them. To no one’s surprise, the villagers only spoke Russian, leaving Adrian to handle the talking while the others set up a perimeter around the village. He depolarized his faceplate at the first to come forward, it an old man, thin grey hair upon a ragged face, he explained that his son, Yuri, was the first to disappear. Yuri had gone out into the forest South of the village to collect firewood, but of course…never returned. As the others told their story they all followed the same pattern, it seemed that none actually went missing from the villages themselves, but instead had disappeared in the forest. It had felt like an hour had passed by the time he reached the final person, a younger woman with long dark hair flowing freely, her eyes were deep brown, unlike the others she wasn’t related to the missing, her name was Sasha.

“They’re not my family…but I love them as if they were. Alexei and Kirill, brothers, they went out early this morning to fish but haven’t come back. Normally they’d be back by now, but with all the news of disappearance I’m worried somethings happened to them.” This was the most recent case they’d had, but in the hours that have passed the covvie bastard could’ve gone anywhere.

“And you knew these two well? They couldn’t have gotten lost in the forest somewhere?”

“We grew up together, they’re practically family, Alexei knows the forests like the back of his hand, he’d never get lost on such a short trip. Kirill would never stray far from his brother.” He nodded in understanding.

“Hmm, is there any way we can quickly get in touch with the other villages from here?”

She perked up at that, “Yes, I work in Administrative Communications here, I keep contact with the other villages.”

“What luck, would you mind?”

“Not at all!”

They walked into the largest building in the village, it was three stories tall and the widest out of any of the buildings here. For some walking inside the building might be refreshing, but Adrian’s suit as all other ODSTs armor is climate controlled, he took off as helmet as they walked to a corner off on the first floor. Adrian looked around the room while Sasha called, looking around he’d felt a strange nostalgia for his home, the style of the room reminded him a lot of what his grandma styled her house with. He wished she could have been here to see this, the circumstances aside, he picked up the tail end of Sasha’s conversation.

“You haven’t been able to get in touch with Mr. Ogliz? Huh that’s a bit strange, he’s normally the most paranoid out of any of us, I’ll call him up. Have a good day…thank you – you as well.” Adrian shot her a questioning glance.

“One of the neighboring villages hasn’t been answering, though it’s not entirely unusual, our phone cables often go down during storms.” She felt the need to clarify.

“When’s the last time you spoke to someone there?”

“Hmm, probably about three days ago.”

A pit began to form in Adrian’s stomach but he brushed it off as simply paranoia, an entire village was ridiculous escalation, it was probably just the phone lines but still something to investigate, especially if it was intentional.

“Is there a truck or something I can borrow? Our ship would draw too much attention to us being here.”

She nodded, handing him the keys to a rusty pickup truck in the back of the village. He nodded his thanks and turned to leave, outside he saw Winston conversing with Amari, walking over to them he waved them down.

“I’ve got two leads, pair of missing brothers to the West of here heading towards a lake, and a lack of communications with a neighboring village.”

Winston turned to him, “What do you think we should do? You have the most expertise if this is the Covenant.”

“Fuck I wish we weren’t spread so thin.” Adrian shook his head, “We split up into two groups, you and Reinhardt take the missing brothers, you’ve got a better head than mine for noticing details meanwhile I’ll check the village with Amari. Going with the assumption that it is the Covenant, if it ends up being an elite, make sure to keep your distance, rule of thumb is the more ornate its armor looks, the more dangerous it is. If it’s armed with an energy sword, it’ll slice through your armor like a warm knife through butter and most are armed with an energy dagger anyway.” Winston nodded in understanding before turning to find Reinhardt. Meanwhile Adrian and Amari hopped into the rust bucket, looking to waste no time, Adrian gunned it out of the village following the telephone cables to the nearest village.

“I have to ask from a tactical standpoint, why bring me? We’re both ranged soldiers, unlike Reinhardt and Winston, I hope you have enough sense to at least see that.”

“Of course, but neither of those two giants would fit into a car and I ain’t lookin to walk.” He joked; Amari snorted at that before focusing back at the mission at hand. They drove the entire line of cable not once seeing anything that would cause disruptions, the pit that Adrian felt in his stomach slowly started to grow. In the distance wooden buildings began to make themselves visible, as they drew closer, they saw that it was a far smaller village than the last, only about a dozen or so cottages that they could see. Adrian brought the truck to a stop not far from the outskirts of the village, they hopped out their weighty gear crunching the snow with a heavy thud. He shouldered his battle rifle as Amari followed behind, walking into the middle of the village they were surprised to see nothing, absolutely nothing. Walking further into the center of the village, they called out but heard nothing in return, Amari gave him a shrug, but something caught his eye. Kneeling to the snow covered ground he could see the distinct marking of a massive two clawed print, “Elites” he growled out.

“Keep your eyes and ears open, it’s a worst-case scenario, remember to keep your distance if you see it. Check those buildings over there, I’ll clear the ones over here.

They split up, a move that Adrian would normally berate a rookie for doing against the covvies, he couldn’t say for sure what compelled him to do such a ridiculous move, but you can’t change the past. Adrian walked up to the first building battle rifle in hand, cracking the door he slowly made his way in only to see his worst fears come true. Blood splattered the floor and walls, three corpses lied face down in puddles of their own blood, a family slaughtered in their own home. Walking over to the corpses, he rolled one over with his foot, it was stiff but slowly loosening, he’d guessed they’d been for a little more than twelve hours.

“ _It’s a massacre.”_ Amari spoke with disgust over comms.

“Yeah but these bodies are pretty…keep checking the other homes. Maybe we’ll find a survivor.”

Adrian moved to the next house, a similar scene laid out within, this time a family of five huddled in a corner, their entrails spilling out onto the floor like an overflowing pile. The rest of the cottages were no better, they found no survivors in that village, only death. Adrian finished first, Amari walked the corner of the nearest cabin while he was smoking a cigarette, she shook her head with a grim face.

“Couldn’t find anyone, whatever that…the ‘elite’ that slaughtered them was ruthless, it didn’t leave anything up to chance.”

“Typical.” Adrian muttered under his breath before flicking his cigarette away. They hoped into the truck and began the drive back, it’d gotten a whole lot more complicated, they’d probably have to spit into two groups, keep watch over both villages but then that’d leave no one to hunt the bastard. It was a tough situation. As they drove Adrian spied a faint glimmer ingrained into his mind from a decade of combat, had it been anyone else in this world they probably would’ve played it off as the shine of the now or a trick of the eye, but Adrian knew. Slamming on the brakes he drew his SOCOM from his hip holstered and fired through the driver side window, faint flashes appeared where he shot, only confirming what he already knew. The damn bastard was camouflaged.

“What the fuck Kasporov?”

“Its here, camouflaged in with the trees.” He responded coldly, he kicked the truck door open as he aimed with his battle rifle, firing bursts as he saw the shimmering form run to the side. Most missed but he knew the last burst hit when he heard the familiar warbling of a pissed elite, reloading his rifle he slowly began to ease out of his seat. Motioning with his hands to Amari that the enemy was hiding behind the tree directly across from himself, they spread out to encircle the bastard but when they came behind the tree it wasn’t there. Branches cracking above caused Adrian’s neck to snap upwards, above him, balancing on the branches was a large elite covered in ornamental white armor with a large crested helmet curving backwards, it was emblazoned with red stylings.

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me, it’s a god damned Ultra.” Elites as a whole were no fucking slouch, but Ultras were some of the worst to come across in the field. They were the highest rank Sangheili infantry could achieve, only the fiercest veterans from the bloodiest battles had a chance at becoming an Ultra, and only a fraction of those veterans was ever actually promoted. Aside from their combat experience, they often had shields far stronger than a regular elite and their armor was some of the finest the Covenant had to offer. In short, they were fucking awful to deal with.

The elite gave a guttural growl before jumping to the ground, Adrian managing to miss as he rolled out of the way. It drew an energy sword from its hip while speaking its harsh tongue, the only words he could understand was when it spoke in broken English, “Imp”. He didn’t wait for it to strike first, opening fire with his battle rifle he landed two solids bursts to its chest before it rolled out of the way then charged at him. It swung its sword in an upwards arc, he barely avoided becoming a shish kebab as he side stepped from the blade, it passed just inches in front of him, he could feel his face become warm as the energized weapon passed his head. Taking in the brief moment it left itself vulnerable, he brought his rifle to the right, bashing the elites face with the stock of his gun. It stumbled back grunting in surprise as it shields finally broke, before it could stand back up fully Amari charged into it with a burst of slight from her suit sending it tumbling once more. It growled in frustration, drawing a plasma grenade with its free hand, it tossed it towards Amari but the grenade overshot landing close to the truck.

“Shit! Amari it’s a grenade, back the fuck up!” The grenade exploded followed by the truck, the explosion wasn’t large, but the concussive force was enough to knock Amari and Adrian to the ground. Seizing the opening the elite rushed towards Adrian’s lying form, energy sword in hand it went to stab his body but he managed to land a solid kick onto the elite’s gut, just enough to stop the blade from severing his head. Instead he felt an unimaginable pain as it nicked his neck, he grit his teeth in agony as he drew the knife from his chest plate with his left hand, in one fluid motion he brought the knife from his holster to the underarm of the elite’s sword wielding hand. Violet blood began to poor out of the wound, Adrian watched as the steaming blood began to cover his visor, he felt the hot blood run past the fresh scar on his neck. Shoving the knife deep as he could, Adrian twisted as he heard the elite howl in pain, wrapping his legs around the elite’s waist, he rolled over bringing the elite down to the ground with him and onto it’s back. His hand still gripping the embedded knife, he drew out the serrated blade this time stabbing it into the elite’s side, reveling in every anguished howl it left loose. His joy was cut short when he felt powerful talons wrap around his throat and toss him off the elite’s body, he landed with a thud in the snow. It drew a plasma rifle with its free hand and fired upon Amari who began to let loose a barrage of small rockets now that Adrian wasn’t in danger of the blasts, the whole scene was a chaotic shitshow as the rockets began to cause massive puffs of snow to fill the air. The firing on both sides stopped, for a time it seemed as if the world had been frozen in time as the snow hung in the air, after what felt like an eternity the snow began to settle.

Amari stood with a few plasma marks covering her armor, most were glancing hits, but a nasty scorch existed on her left shoulder pad, luckily she probably didn’t feel a thing under those massive shoulder guards. The elite had disappeared, back into the forest to recuperate, they’d managed to bring down its shields towards the end but weren’t fast enough to capitalize on its weakness. Standing up with a grunt, he took off his helmet and tried to wipe off as much of the elite’s blood as he could.

“Not bad Amari, though I believe I advised to stay away from it, not charge into it.” He jibed, “How are those plasma burns though, I assume the armor took the brunt of the damage?”

She nodded, “Luckily, but those elite are…terrifying, I’ve never seen anything like them what much less anything fight like them.” She repressed a shutter, instead shaking her head in disgust at the creature, “What about you? Thought I saw you take a blade to the neck.”

He shrugged indifferently, “I did, but the silver lining with covenant weapons is that the wounds tend to cauterize immediately if they’re small enough, so there’s that.” A communication from Winston interrupted their conversation.

Amari handled Winston, “We just made contact with the target, it was an alien from Kasporov’s world…an elite. We managed to fight back but it escaped back into the forest, we should head after it to make sure it doesn’t cause more death.”

“ _No…there’s a situation back at the town you need to get back immediately._ ” Amari and Adrian shared a look at the flaming wreck of the truck.

“Our rides gone so we’ll be walking, what’s so important that we need to haul back?” She questioned.

“ _The Russian army’s here and they’re not pleased with our unannounced arrival._ ” The comms cut out after that, they shared a look before sighing in resignation and beginning the walk back to the first village. Looking up at the clear blue sky, Adrian couldn’t help but think that at least it was nice weather for a walk.


	12. The Devil and I - Part 2

**Dremuchiy Les Village, Republic of Sakha, Russia**

Being told the Russian Army had arrived had complicated the mission immeasurably, though Winston had no reason to lie, Adrian had still felt that this military presence had felt oddly timed. They’d only been here two hours tops and yet they’d already zeroed in on their position, sure it wasn’t beyond imagination for them to be watching the skies but if they’d been detected earlier than why hadn’t their involvement been immediate? It raised questions in Adrian’s mind that he’d want answers to, normally he’d couldn’t be bothered to give a shit and would’ve chocked it up to administrative incompetence because of a lax governing body but with an elite here…doubt raced through his thoughts. Despite these holdings, he was curious to see what an official state sanctioned military was like, while the actionable freedom of Overwatch was similar to an ODST’s choice of approaching a mission, some part of him did miss the strict organization and responsibilities that came with service.

Adrian and Amari continued to trudge through the ankle-high snow as signs of the village could start to be made out through the tree line. It wasn’t long until they walked out into the village clearing to see a few troop trucks parked on the outside of the village with a couple dozen of soldiers holding perimeter around the town. What had surprised Adrian however was the singular piece of heavy cavalry, what appeared to be a light tank hovering above the ground. He quirked his brow in admiration, Covenant technology had been difficult to reverse engineer to say the least as most hover-based vehicle were still experimental prototypes with most ending in failure. Yet here it seems that’d managed to find an alternate path to achieving the same goal, if he got the chance, he’d see what he could find out about it. Thinking on it, he’d actually seen very little of any populated center, there was no telling how common this hover tech was; regardless being able to bring back some of this world’s technology could bolster humanity’s defense – or what’s left of it anyway. At the least he was interested in the tech itself, curious to see how this version of humanity came upon such an invention but that would have to come later for now they have tangible problem right in front of them.

Standing a ways ahead of Adrian were a small group of people having a heated conversation with Winston, three of the group seemed to just be an armed escort so Adrian temporarily ignored them instead focusing on the last two of the group, both older man if their gray hair was anything to go by. The tallest had short buzzed hair with a nasty scar running from his right cheek to down under his chin, situated upon his shoulders was a two star insignia with a trio of golden lines crossing back and forth behind the stars. He was likely the commander of these forces, had this been in his world he would’ve immediately saluted in the presence of a major general. Though for obvious reasons he refrained from such actions, also reminding himself that prior to the UNE unification of governments most countries probably had their own individual ranks, though it didn’t matter much considering the grizzled veteran was clearly ranks above what Adrian was. While the first man was undoubtedly military, the second man was the exact opposite, oddly thin without a trace of military discipline in him, he’d seen his types before under ONI though he figured his role in this was different. Based on the man’s suit and formal manner, Adrian assumed he was a diplomat or liaison of some sort, for what reason he was brought here was beyond him.

As Adrian and Amari approached the group, the armed escort immediately turned their rifles toward themselves, the commander lazily turned his head to the disturbance before a wary smile graced his lips. “Ah these must be the agents you had in the field, now tell me, were you successful in hunting down…what it is that exists in these woods? The thing that has been seemingly hunting my people down like wild animals?” Neither of them spoke a word, the general snorted, “Of course you weren’t, you lack the power of a fully fledged army, the immense resources at my disposal, Overwatch has none of this. Now I hope you won’t take my snide remarks as disdain for your organization, I appreciate the efforts you took in combating the Omnic crisis when they knocked upon the motherland’s doors. You must understand that despite this, I take it as an insult to my work when you come into my country to solve our own problems, especially considering your groups evident failures.”

“Lieutenant general,” Winston began, “you must understand that this is like nothing any of us have ever faced before! Sending your men into that forest will only result in their death, one village has already had its inhabitants slaughtered!” Winston tried to reason with the man, but his words fell on deaf ears. Though briefly Adrian curiosity was momentarily piqued at the commander’s rank, Lieutenant General in the UNSC was the second to highest rank an officer could achieve though clearly the rank held different albeit still immensely powerful status here.

“Do not underestimate my men _beast_ , detain them!” The scarred man snarled, several soldiers that had previously been milling about encircled them, Adrian felt himself forcefully pushed to the ground as his hands were bound behind his back. He swore under his breath, they were just wasting fucking time with this, the longer that Ultra was in the woods the more likely it was to just move somewhere else. If it saw the Russians mobilizing larger squads, it’d just wait it out somewhere else while picking off whatever poor human bastard came its way. Reinhardt was far larger than any of the soldiers here, with no one to forcibly shackle Reinhardt nor having any equipment big enough to restrain him, they settled with simply aiming the tanks main turret at Reinhardt. Honestly it would’ve been rather comical had the situation not been so dire.

“ _Generál-leytenánt_ , _zachem tratit' zhizni svoikh lyudey?”_ (Lieutenant General, why waste the lives of your own men?). Adrian yelled; the general turned to him in surprise.

“A kinsman among their ranks? Interesting…” The general mumbled.

“I don’t give a damn how good your soldiers are, most if not all of them will die if you send them out into that forest, but at your disposal are four of the best trained military operatives from across the globe. You send me out there and worst case is I die while your men live to see another day; best case is I succeed and you can take the credit for putting an end to these grisly murders. A good general does everything is his power to ensure that his men make it back or are you the vain bastard that’s going to throw their lives away because of some chicken shit pride bullshit.”

This brought the general’s full attention to himself; it had felt…unusual to speak so callously to an a general but it needed to be done. A member of the Covenant couldn’t be allowed to just freely roam as they wished, especially on a planet that wasn’t prepared for it. Adrian depolarized his faceplate as the general walked over to him, crouching on the balls of his feet so they could see face to face.

“Pray tell, why should I listen to the talk of someone who failed to get this creature the first time?”

“Because I fought it and survived, I wounded it, the longer we stay here pussyfooting around and knocking the dicks out of each other’s mouths the more likely it is that its going to find somewhere else to start killing.”

The general let out a hearty chuckle his voice bellowing like a cannon, “Oh you’ve got spirit _rodich_ but I’m not here play around.” He turned to his subordinates, shouting for them to send in Yelena and Leonid squad, half the soldiers occupying the village headed out in the forest. When Adrian and Amari had started their trek back, the sun had already begun to set casting the forest in a warm orange hue. Now that comforting warmth was gone, replaced with the pitch black of the night without a moon, once the soldiers entered the tree-line they were practically invisible. Adrian pitied the men who’d just been sent to their death, night vision wouldn’t help and thermals were useless on camouflaged covenant, even ODST’s VISR couldn’t detect camouflaged enemies, it’d only be a matter of time before their cries echoed throughout the forest. So when the first shots rang out not far from the village, it came as a shock to everyone but Adrian. Briefs flashes of light followed by the pop of rifle fire were quickly silenced, over the radio the incoherent screams of men being butchered reigned throughout the village. Watching from the outside, it was almost like watching a chain reaction, starting on the right would be bursts of fire that starkly contrasted to the void of night. As the first soldiers went down they’re rifles being silenced, the group immediately to the would open fire only to be cut down. You could see the progress of the Ultra as it cut down each soldier one by one, the flashes of light quickly appearing then disappearing across the horizon.

Eventually an eerie silence reigned over the forest as the last rifleman was cut down, he could never tell what was worse, the ear-piercing screams of men being slaughtered over the radio or the awful silence that followed knowing that none of them were left alive. The general was frantically attempting to radio the squads though everyone knew it was a fruitless effort, he let out an anguished yell as he threw his radio to the snow-covered ground. Turning towards the diplomat they engaged in a heated discussion, Adrian could only pick out bits and pieces, something about a Marshal Zukhov, rebels or…dissidents maybe, and something about greater repercussions. It was clear that there was something greater going on in the country, Adrian could hazard a guess that there wouldn’t be any more troops or doing so would incur the wrath of this Marshal Zukhov. It would explain the relatively small force here if they were occupied elsewhere, it could also explain why there was such a high-ranking official was doing in the middle of bumfuck nowhere. This was on just speculation on is part, but the bravado, the lack of planning, the urge to get this finished as soon as possible, the General likely had gotten on someone’s shit list and was reassigned to this unit to clear up this mess. The sooner he got it cleared up the faster he was back on track to his original position; Adrian saw it all the time in the USNC though not very often as of late.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lieutenant General Valinsky could never admit it to his superiors, but every fiber of his being was telling him not to send his men into those woods, it was a gut feeling he’d earned over years of experience that was practically begging him not to do it. Especially with Overwatch here, he knew that something of great importance was here but he was also wise enough to know that it went beyond anything he could understand. He was being honest earlier when he said he held great respect for Overwatch, he’d often had thoughts of joining but a duty to his country had always come first in his eyes. Of course, none of these thoughts matter with… him here, the Valinsky’s eye shooting over to the out of place diplomat. He was sent on the guise of peacefully talking with Overwatch, to try and persuade them to help with some issues globally that Russia couldn’t officially do themselves. While that was almost certainly true, there was a second motive that while not necessarily hidden was more implied than anything else, that this diplomat was to make sure that Valinsky wouldn’t fuck up twice. Previously he’d taken up some issue with a series of orders that came from Marshal Sergeyev, a mistake that he’d wisely never make again, so much of what he was doing was false machismo to please the desk-sitting parasite. It made him sick to send his own men into certain death, hearing their screams as they died was simultaneously awful but…not unexpected. Deep down he figured it was all some sort of plan to make him turn to Overwatch for aid, to help create a budding relationship for future endeavors, but the absolutely fucking ridiculous thing is that Valinsky would’ve asked for there help regardless. So often the desk-sitting fuckwads are out of touch with the men in the field, creating these elaborate schemes and plans never having actually served themselves, it was like putting a goddamn toddler in charge. With a resigned sigh he pushed those thoughts out of his head, they’d get him nowhere.

Turning towards the detained Overwatch agents he asked what he knew the diplomat wanted to hear, “Can you guarantee that you’ll kill whatever monstrosities lurks in these forests?”

The four agents looked at each other with baffled confusion, Valinsky chuckled darkly to himself, it made no sense to himself either. Eventually the leader spoke, his large dark fur-covered body standing out against the crisp white now and bright lights in the village.

“Does this mean that we’re no longer uhh prisoners? Or detained?”

Before Valinsky could speak, the lanky diplomat walked up, “Of course! Of course! I am deeply sorry for your treatment, my colleague here got rather carried away. We never meant for any of this to happen, infact I was sent here with a proposition that I believe you will find rather tempting, although first we should deal with the current problem no?”

“Ahh uhmm y- yes…of course. I’ll discuss with my team on how to -- handle this situation.” 

Valinsky sighed, it was of no surprise that he’d get thrown under the bus for this whole debacle, the only hopeful aspect of this whole shitshow is that he’d get his old position back, otherwise he doubted he’d ever make it out of these god awful postings. Taking out a cigarette, he looked up at the starry sky with thoughts that eventually things would get better.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was decided with fervent opposition from the other members that Adrian would head into the forest alone. Absolutely reckless but the others lacked the experience to hunt an elite, sure they could all strap on some night vision or thermals but that wouldn’t help them at all, they barely knew what to look for in broad daylight, let alone in worse visual conditions. Bringing them with him would only burden an already tense mission, they’d likely only end up like the soldiers sent in previously, killed without ever even realizing it.

Taking stock of his gear, he looked once more back at the inviting light of the village he trudged past the tree line and into the vast dark expanse of the forest. Turning on his VISR, it helped to lighten his surroundings a bit but not as much as he’d hoped. As he walked on, every creaking branch in the wind or wild animal calling out set his nerves on edge, he kept his breathing even hoping that it’d calm the rest of his body, but every inch of muscle was screaming at him to leave the forest. It wasn’t long until he came upon the first set of corpses, the soldier’s bodies unceremoniously laid in the snow their blood pooled out under them, soaking into the snow like a sponge. Steam rose from the poor bastards who had their guts spilling out like burst balloons, stepping over them Adrian’s steps became slower, more measured as he scanned the area, making sure to check the tree lines as well. Following the trail of corpses, he came upon the most recent to die, the soldiers died clutching at their throat in vain hoping to stop the bleeding. Scanning the ground he spied the large two pronged print he was looking for, it led away from the bodies deeper into the forest, almost definitely a trap that Adrian had no choice but to follow.

The further in he went the more the leafless trees around him seemed like brutal fingers reaching out from the depths of hell itself. Eventually the ground began to slope downwards, he felt himself slip a few times as he made his way down the incline, the snow was crisp from the freezing temperatures, patches of ice hid themselves under the inches of snow. Wood creaked behind him, far too much too simply be the wind but his reflexes were just a touch slower than the elite jumping from above once more. It landed with a dulled thud, snowing billowing in the air as it slashed forward with its blazing sword, Adrian had always liked to think that he would’ve dodged regardless but the truth is dumb luck is what saved him in the end. As he stepped back, he felt his foot fly out from under him as he hit a spot of ice, falling backwards the sword missed by a wide margin as he tumbled down the hill. Hitting the bottom of the hill he quickly stood back up shouldering his battle rifle, he could hear the snow crunching in the darkness around him but it was far too hard to spot any distortion in the air from the camouflage.

The sound of hurried steps to his right brought him face to face with the charging Ultra, Adrian opened fire with his battle rifle as he quickly walked backwards. His back hit the solid trunk of an oak tree, with no where else left to go he dodged under the elite’s sword swing as it neared him, going through the thick trunk with ease. Before he could stand, he felt himself lifted off the ground by the elite’s vicious clawed hand its sharp talons digging into Adrians neck drawing blood. It snarled something unintelligible at him, Adrian simply responded with, “Christ on a stick you are one ugly bastard. Ever thought of cosmetic surgery?” With practiced ease Adrian swung his legs up and around the elite’s neck, twisting his legs he felt the elite tumble to the side, he’d hoped it would loosen the grip around his throat or drop him entirely, instead it squeezed harder before tossing Adrian aside like a dirty washrag. His body crashed against a tree with cracked as the wood splintered behind him, he pushed himself off the ground with a groan. His head snapped up to the Elite as it inched closer to him, Adrian noticed that its sword had switched arms, its main arm likely still recovering from the knife wound he had inflicted earlier. He wasn’t sure if elite had dominant arms, but it’d definitely seemed that its attacks were sloppier, less focused or maybe less controlled. Lacking his battle rifle, Adrian reached for one of the grenades he’d taken from the soldiers in the village, pulling the win he rolled it forwards under the elite. It looked down in surprise before rolling away, without his rifle Adrian drew his SOCOM from his hip, unleashing a rapid-fire burst of pistol rounds at the elite as it rolled. All shots hit their mark with the final bullet dropping the elite’s shields with the telltale crackle of electricity. Adrian quickly circled around the Ultra; its armor too thick for the pistol bullets to pass through so he planned to make his way to where his battle rifle was dropped. Realizing what Adrian was planning, the Ultra let out a guttural yell as it drew a plasma pistol from its hip and began to fire upon Adrian’s sprinting form. With each shot the elite walked closer to Adrian, he could see his battle rifle only a few meters way lying in the snow, his legs pounded against the ground. When it seemed he had victory within his grasp, a searing pain erupted in his leg causing him to stumble forward, in less eloquent terms he ate shit...hard. A plasma bolt has struck the back of his calf, melting the armor as easily as it melted the snow around him. Trying to stand the pain in his leg was too great, he collapsed again into the snow. Crawling pitifully towards his rifle, he kept reaching out hoping to grab the rifle, the next time he outstretched his hand a prong of the energy soared pierced the top of his hand, pinning it to the ground. He let out a blood-curling scream until his throat went raw, a clawed foot rolled him over the sword still impaling his hand. The Ultra’s split jaw lowered itself to mere inches from Adrian’s face, it studied him for a bit like a live specimen at a zoo. In barely audible broken English, it spoke to him, “ _Worthy…you have…been…may honor…guide you.”_

Adrian didn’t care much for honor, and he sure as hit didn’t care for this ugly fuckers respect, especially when he was so goddamn cocky he didn’t think to check if Adrian was still armed before doing his whole honor spiel. With his non-impaled hand still gripping the SOCOM pistol, Adrian shoved the barrel of the pistol into the wide gaping maw of the elite’s mouth, as absolutely disgusting the spit-chins were he appreciated that they’re separated jaws made it easier for him to do this. Pulling the trigger on his pistol he fired straight into the back of the elite’s mouth, completely ignoring the shields as the bullets burst through the back of his heads, erupting like a volcano. He continued to fire even after the Ultra’s struggling had stopped, he kept pulling the trigger until the magazine was empty. As the elite’s body fell limp its grip on the sword loosened causing it to retract, bringing the sweetest relief Arian had ever felt as his scorched skin embraced the cool relief of snow. 

Pushing the corpse from off his body, he closed his eyes in solace knowing that there was one less Covenant in the world. He slowly opened his eyes back up to the night sky, the stars shone brightly above like a glittering parade. Slowly removing his helmet, he tossed it to the side before letting his head fall into the snow, damp from the sweat it felt like paradise for his head to rest in the snows cool embrace. Taking out a cigarette with his good hand, he lit it up, the glow from the tip being the only light in the forest. In the near pitch blackness, the lit cigarette seemed like its own star in a boundless of sea of nothing, Adrian decided he would just lay here for a while enjoying the quiet comfort before limping back to base. He figured he’d earned at this this small reprieve.


	13. Darkness on the Edge of Town

**Dremuchiy Les Village, Republic of Sakha, Russia**

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that things had been hectic to say the least, though it could’ve ended far worse than it actually had. Winston always tried to focus on the positives in life and this was no different, despite a rather rocky introduction with the Russian Federation they’d managed to turn it around into a net positive for both parties. He was slightly offended that they thought he wouldn’t be able to see through their half-baked rouse, but global connections was the one thing that Overwatch desperately needed, so he’d managed to push down his own feelings on the matter for the better of the team. The diplomat he conversed with, Gorgoi, had given a vague outline of the situation in Russia, namely a group of ‘dissenters’ had taken towards causing unrest with the Omnic population. Winston refrained from asking whether these so-called ‘dissenters’ were actually rebelling within the state or simply progressive reformists seeking greater Omnic rights. Regardless it seemed that a small albeit more radical sect of these dissenters was posing a legitimate threat, bombing the houses of government officials as well as public spaces indiscriminately. The diplomat had rather bluntly stated that normally this would be a matter of the state, however this group was not only extremely elusive but also had ties to Talon which operated globally, thus outside of their jurisdiction.

The request was two-fold; Overwatch would work independently to find where the Talon shipments were originating from around the globe and also help to locate the extremists within Russia. In return, not only would Overwatch have access to whatever materials they needed to complete their goals, but successful completion would lead towards Russian acknowledgement of Overwatch legitimacy. Having one of the most powerful countries recognize Overwatch as a legitimate organization for the betterment of all would be a massive boon, it had almost seemed to good to be true but Winston and Overwatch as a whole needed them far more than they needed Overwatch. He warily accepted the conditions set forth but told himself to have Athena keep an eye out for any suspicious activity back at Gibraltar. They’d have plenty of time to think things through, Gorgoi had told him that bureaucracy would halt progress for a week at the minimum, but they’d be in contact. Winston took a breath, for the first time in what felt like years he’d had a concrete plan of action for the future, he’d have to thank Adrian for opening this silver lining it what could’ve been a complete mess…speaking of…where was Adrian?

“Well shit.”

Adrian stared down at the massive corpse at his feet, he’d had to remind himself that this wasn’t his world and he couldn’t just leave the damn split-chin lying around. There was no telling what the people here could do with the technology from his world if they got their hands on it so he’d decided to make sure that wouldn’t happen. There lies the problem, how the hell does one injured person dispose of a near four hundred-pound, eight-foot beast. Originally he’d planned to cook the bastard, only to remember that incendiaries were considered a ‘war-crime’ here, he’d gotten some concerned looks from Brigette when he’d discussed bringing them so he’d had to settle for other brutal tools of warfare that could just as easily maim and kill. Though none of those solved his current problem, his second idea had been to use the Ultra’s sword and slice it into dozens of little pieces but the massive mess aside, it still wouldn’t help him actually dispose or hide it. Eventually the snow would melt revealing the elite’s decomposed bits nestled snuggly within armor never seen before on this Earth. After a great deal of swearing he’d decided to simply bury the body until he’d made it back to the village where he’d be able to use the Orca to haul the lump of flesh back to Gibraltar.

This train of thought led his mind to a second set of problems he’d previously barely considered before moving on, if and where the Ultra could be storing more weapons, gear, supplies, all shit he didn’t want to be discovered. Even the discovery of Covenant rations would start a line of questioning that was better left ignored, the Russians seem to care more about Overwatch then the elite that was stalking the woods. But what happens when a completely alien object is found, questions are asked, answered are sought, it would only lead to greater problems. The scrap in Berlin that seemed more Covenant the longer he thought about it, was a miracle in that it was far too small for anything useful to be gleamed from it and too insignificant to be worth investing fully. That’s changed now, an elite was here living in these woods for fuck knows how long staying in some shelter, but it’d need something to get it here to this world. It didn’t simply pop into existence for shits and giggles, no it traveled here same as him. There’s no way that any creature could survive a slipspace jump without being encased, sheltered from the fabric of space and time, so it must have been in a drop pod similar to his. The question now that seemingly kept on giving, was where the hell it was.

He grunted as the plasma burn on his leg flared, these problems need to be dealt with but first he needed to focus on the matters at hand. Burying the elite was grueling, tireless work that felt like it stretched on for ages, it was only worsened by the fact he could only reliably use one hand and walk as fast as an inbred sloth. By the time he finished his HUD told him it was a bit past midnight, he wasn’t sure when he’d first left to hunt the Ultra but he wouldn’t be surprised if it had been hours ago. Before burying the elite he’d pilfered it’s corpse for whatever gear it had with it, he placed the hilt of the energy sword in a secure pocket on his thigh while holstering the plasma pistol to his hip. There’d also been a few plasma grenades tucked away that he more than happily took for himself. Looking around he felt a brief dread passed over him as he realized he’d have to find his way back out of this shit hole forest, the built-in compass & radar would lead him back to the village but it didn’t stop the thought of trudging back through this pitch-black forest being absolutely awful. On the plus side, despite the -30 degree Celsius weather his suit’s internal heating systems made sure that at least he wouldn’t freeze to death, got to focus on the small things he supposed.

By the time the lights from the village became visible to him his left leg felt as though it’d just fall off any second and he’d honestly wished it would. Never before had he felt such a willingness to embrace death to end the pain, he was being dramatic of course but plasma burns were often the most agonizing injuries that one could receive, usually it was followed by an immediate evacuation for said burn victim away from the frontlines to receive medical treatment. Of course he’d been absolutely brimming with luck as he got the pleasure of walking for at least a mile on the previously mentioned excruciating burn. Sighing to himself he knew the worst was yet to come, it didn’t take a genius to realize what would happen when molten metal and bubbling flesh met and cooled, especially in these below freezing temperatures. He’d rather have Doctor Ziegler do it but he wasn’t keen on waiting to Gibraltar, so he’d just have to hope that whatever field medic they have was competent. It’s just like ripping off a bandage he told himself, except that when he ripped off the bandage it’d also tear whatever skin it was fused with, and instead of a bandage it was a calf-sized sheet of titanium metal. Just like ripping off a bandage.

He was almost insulted when he fully entered the village, limping like a wounded animal, because it seemed as if most of the people had been expecting his death. He internally scoffed at their doubt, as if he’d let some split lip take him out in some backwoods village where his squad wouldn’t even see him go out in a blaze of glory. The soldiers guarding the perimeter looked on in a mix awe and fear as he shambled past them, violet blood drenched his body and his armor sported several new scratches as a testament to the ferocity of the fight.

Winston and the General quickly approached him, he already knew what they wanted before they spoke. “It’s dead, there’s no chance of it coming back.”

Lieutenant General Valinsky looked him over with praise, “I can see that. It’s a shame that so many lives were wasted before you could step in.” The General turned towards Winston, “Your team has kept up their side of the bargain and so we shall uphold ours, you’ll be hearing from us in the next week or so.”

Winston smiled, showing his feral teeth in a sick grin, it seemed the General didn’t have the same reservations Adrian had as the two gladly shook hands.

Adrian spoke up, pain lacing his words, “Lieutenant General, I assume your unit has a combat medic or two.” Valinsky nodded as he already began to call over two of his men, “Well as a start to this budding relationship, I hope you’d spare your medics because I’m in an unbelievable amount of fucking pain…sir.”

He didn’t pay attention to what the man said, instead letting his weight fall to the ground as he sat in the snow. Two men carrying duffel bags kneeled down next to him, both seemed to be around his age.

The lead medic spoke as he began to take out his equipment, “Kakiye u vas travmy?” (What are your injuries?)

“Nu, u menya yest' odna bol'shaya dyrka v moyey ruke i rasplavlennaya bronya sroslas' so mnoy.” (Well I've got one big fucking hole in my hand and melted armor fused to me leg.)

The two medics eyes widened in surprise before they shared an uncertain look, Adrian spoke up once more, “Ya ne ozhidayu chuda, prosto zalatat' ruku i otdelit' plot' ot metalla. Ya pozabochus' ob ostal'nom.” (I'm not expecting a miracle, just patch the hand and sever the flesh from the metal. I'll handle the rest.)

Telling them he would get the rest healed by Ziegler as Gibraltar wasn’t important, so he kept ir brief in the hopes that they wouldn’t drag out the process. The hand went smoothly enough, mostly just some bandage wraps, medicine, and disinfectant, though that wasn’t the part he was worried about. Even the most trained field medics in the UNSC had trouble with fused flesh because of plasma burns, he didn’t have keep his hopes up for these two who’d likely never dealt with such a injury, instead resigning himself to the inevitable fuck-ups and pain that would follow. When they moved onto his leg he focused on keeping his breathing even, they give him a couple shots of morphine but that wouldn’t do much when the flesh is literally being ripped from your body, but he appreciated the gesture. When they brought the heated blade under the armor to start severing the mix of seared flesh and melted metal he was proud to say he didn’t scream, that he’d avoided going into shock, but when they eventually did what they could and the inevitable ripping of the titanium calf plate came, he was not ashamed in the least to say that his scream echoed that of a dying beast.


	14. The War That Never Ends

**Skies above Europe**

Adrian felt the rumble of the Orca tearing through the air as he rested the back of his head against the metallic wall. His left leg splayed out in front of him with his calf completely covered in gauze, the bandages that had once been a pristine white were now a dark crimson red. The dropship was thankfully very quick, by his estimates they shouldn’t be far from the outpost now which meant he was that much closer this fucking pain being dealt with. Lifting his head he grabbed the discarded helmet lying next to him, its been a crazy life hasn’t it, half his life spent in a war of unimaginable destruction and now at the one of the most crucial battle of the war he was stuck in what seemed like the plot of a cheesy sci-fi novel. Looking at his war-torn helmet it almost seemed to tell a story of its own, the original paint scheme faded to practically obscurity, what was once a stunning white lined with dark red was now almost entirely faded. A wolf skull, that’s what had once donned his helmet, its mouth open like it was ready to kill, its jaw outlining his visor. Under the visor was the mandible, its sharp white teeth glistening with blood as though the teeth were reaching up to his face. Above his visor the teeth were long, vicious, predatory, like a snarl as the wolf readied itself for its next kill, he’d gone through multiple helmets but always they came back with the same design. To see it in such disarray brought a pang of regret to his heart for letting it reach such an abysmal state, he had to have his leg armor reformed and repaired, while he was at it he may as well get his armor restyled. Especially since for now it was his only connection to home, his real home where his squadmates were living and dying fighting for humanity.

He placed the helmet back on the seat next to him as Reinhardt’s voice broke him from his musings, “So raumfahrer, this is the beast of your world?” Adrian looked across from him, Amari and Reinhardt were sitting across from him with Reinhardt giving his full attention to the elite’s corpse laying in the middle of the troop bay. After picking up the corpse, Adrian outlined his concerns about covvie tech to Winston, they did a brief search but couldn’t risk doing more for fear of Russian suspicion. In the end they hadn’t found anything else, instead having to settle for only securing the now dead alien they had here.

“I have a name y’know.”

“Ja but space-man is entertaining, besides it’s fun to see you annoyed.” The larger man teased, a mirthful smile gracing his lips.

“This fuckin’ guy,” He muttered under his breath “But yeah this is an elite. Though I feel calling it a beast doesn’t quite capture how much a savage bitch it really is.”

“These are the most dangerous of your foes?”

“Save for maybe one of those brute apes, but pretty much. They’ve got better armor, better weapons, and an average strength far above that of a normal person. They’re an absolute nightmare for most especially when you start getting higher in their ranks, ain’t much that can go toe to toe with them.”

Reinhardt looked thoughtfully at the limp corpse before turning his attention to Adrian, “Is there anything in your military that’s equal or better than them?

“A tank…Though there is once group that outclasses them though no one’s sure if they’re entirely human.”

Reinhardt raised his brow in curiosity, Amari who previously only been half listening gave the conversation her full attention.

“They’re called Spartans-”

“Like the ancient warriors?” Amari interrupted.

Adrian shrugged indifferently, “History wasn’t my strong suit, but I also never gave it much thought, anyway these Spartan are a special bunch, more like super soldiers than anything else. No one except the ONI spooks know anything about them, they’re whole program is shrouded in secrecy, though what’s not a secret is they’ve got tech way above what anyone else gets. They’re a freaky bunch but they provide results which is more than most can say in this war.”

“What makes them so…freaky?”

“Ehh they’re…different…like there’s something missin’ in them. I’ve only met a couple, they’re quiet, keep to themselves mostly but they’ve got strength to rival that of an elite. I imagine there’s only a few hundred ever alive at once, they’re a rare bunch which I suppose adds to their mystery. Though most they tend to butt heads with ODSTs whenever they’re together,” Adrian rolled his hands as he spoke.

“Jealous?” Amari jested, she understood better than most the tensions that arose in the military.

“Somethin’ like that but there’s a more personal grudge to it depending on who you ask, though it doesn’t help when these Spartans get the newest tech, the best gear, when originally it all used to go to ODSTs, and they’ve become the poster child of the UNSC. I don’t despise them like some do, frankly I’m just glad those sociopathic killing-sprees are on our side, but it’s still aggravating to have your achievements overshadowed by the newest toy in the UNSC arsenal.”

Reinhardt grunted, “I’m glad you’ve got your pride under control better than I did when I was your age. Rivalry between comrades is all well and good, but make sure it doesn’t absorb you as it did me. Bah enough talk of the past, for now we must look to the future!” The giant let out a hearty cheer, “When we get back, drinks are on me! To celebrate our newest victory.”

“Don’t wait on my behalf, I’ll limp there eventually.” Adrian joked, though drinks were the last thing on his mind. Other than the obvious, he was starving and tired, he wanted nothing more than to scarf a plate of something hot then pass out immediately after. Hell getting to his room would just be a bonus, he’d gladly pass out in the cafeteria if it came to it. The rest of the flight was spent in amicable conversation, mostly between Amari and Reinhardt as Adrian didn’t have the energy. When they landed, he’d expected to see Ziegler or some medical staff waiting for him like previously but instead he was greeted with an empty launch pad. The damn ape must’ve forgotten instead being too preoccupied with the joy of global connections, sighing Adrian stood up picking his helmet as he hobbled off the dropship. Waving to Amari and Reinhardt as they parted ways, he began making his way to the medical bay. At first glance it seemed the base had become a ghost town, but in reality it was simply still the dead of night here, whatever time had passed on the flight was negated because of back tracking through the time zones. It was still pitch black when he looked off the cliff face, the crashing of the waves could be heard clear as day but without a moon there wasn’t even a faint reflection off the water. The time he spent painfully hobbling along to the med-bay felt like it lasted for hours, when the automatic door slid upon in front of him, he was disappointed yet also unsurprised to find it empty. Doctor Ziegler had to sleep too, the problem was he didn’t know where she stayed or have a way to get in contact with here. Still he figured other people had to work the clinic under her, there should’ve been an aide here or something.

“Anyone here?” He called out into the sectioned room, behind one of the private rooms he heard shuffling with muffled voices. After a minute two young aides stumbled out from the room, both seemed to be a few years younger than himself and very much flustered. They were both trying to fix their rugged appearance while smoothing their clothes into vaguely acceptable standards.

Not waiting for them to break the silence he spoke first, “Uh huh, listen can either of you get in contact with Dr. Ziegler? I have an emergency that requires her assistance.”

The one on the right, a boy with short slicked blonde hair spoke up, “Well…uhmm…we’re more than happy to assist you with whatever medical attention you need.”

“After where you’ve been sticking those hands?” He retorted back. They’re faces turned a dark shade of red while the female let out a strangled choke when she heard that. “Listen I’m not here to tease you till you faint, but I think my injury requires a more experienced hand.”

He sat himself upon a long medical table, putting his helmet down next to him as he stretched out his long leg, “Cause ya see, while in the field I had super super-heated metal fuse itself to the bubbling skin on my calf. At which point it was not so surgically cleaved through with a heated blade where the rest was then torn from the rest of my leg in a rather excruciating fashion, so really what I’m trying to say in this pompous style is that I’d really fucking like if you could et the qualified doctor in here to patch my profusely bleeding leg.”

The two handsy aides stood in a quiet shock for a second before scrabbling into a different room where they could be heard paging for Ziegler. Adrian wouldn’t have been surprised if both decide to stay in the office until the arrival of the doctor, but either through courage or embarrassment for earlier both came out to wait politely. The awkward atmosphere barely bothered Adrian, fighting a bloody losing war tends to dissipate any notion of embarrassment fairly quickly, the same could not be said for the two juniors to his side.

Eventually the young guy tried to break the silence, “So…how’s your leg?”

Adrian turned his head, a look of utter disbelief marking his features, internally he was laughing his ass off, but he wanted to make it as awkward as possible for the poor assistant. The girl elbowed the young man in the side as he slowly realized how absolutely stupid his question had been. They were saved from any further suffering when a bleary-eyed Ziegler walked in adorned in casual night clothes, a loose robe fluttering behind her, the tired look on her face turned into a smile at seeing Adrian. The aides quickly excused themselves as soon as she walked in, greeting her before shuffling out of the room.

“When Karla and Mendez phoned me saying that a frightening looking man was requesting my help, I had figured it was Torbjorn or McCree though I can’t say I’m surprised it was you.” She greeted.

“What can I say, I have a way with people.” He chuckled.

“You do always seem to find a way back into my clinic.” She said as she gathered her standard equipment.

“Well secretly I’ve been doing it so I can see you again.” Adrian joked.

“There are other ways Mr. Kasporov.”

With mock exaggeration Adrian shot his eyebrows up, “Well shit, slap me silly I just had no gosh darn idea!” They both chuckled before she took a seat in front of him, he told her what had happened, outlining what had caused the injuries and why, she gasped and winced as the story progressed eventually settling into a disappointed frown at the job done by the combat medics in Russia.

“I can’t fault you for doing the right thing, but I wish they would’ve taken a bit more precaution with they’re ‘surgery’.” She used figure quotes while her face did nothing to hide the contempt she felt. Eventually she sighed and told Adrian to lay back, telling him she’d have to do some manual work on the hand and disinfect the calf wound, so it might be a while.

“Never have I seen one man attract so many injuries before, I’d ask you to take it easy but it didn’t do much last time.” Angela said as she began working on his hand, he wasn’t sure what the purpose of it was but he didn’t feel the need to ask so he just turned his head to look at the simple ceiling.

“Eh I’ve been reckless; I’m so used to working with my squad…its different here.”

She hummed, “If you end up here again anytime soon, I’m going to take the largest thermometer, bend you over, and stick you like a roast pig.”

“Well that’s certainly incentive to keep me from doing something stupid.”

“You think I’m joking, just you wait.” Adrian turned to see the coldest look he’d ever seen grace Ziegler’s face the longer he stared the more her façade cracked. Eventually her lips squirmed until they broke out into a large grin, they both let out heart-felt laughs with Adrian laughing so hard he felt his lungs go empty.

He took gasping breaths trying to stop himself from laughing, he wiped a single tear from his eyes, “Holy shit I haven’t laughed that hard in ages, the sleep deprivation is really kicking in now. You know I’m not much for gossip but those two aides of yours are certainly making the most of their free time.”

She smirked as she effortlessly mended his hand, “I’m aware. They think their being clever but I was doing the same thing when I was their age, they’re also not very subtle.”

“Doctor Ziegler!” Adrian placed his free hand over his heart with faux surprise, “How scandalous!”

She giggled, “We’ve all got to take advantage of our time when we’re young, I just happened to have a…quicker time with my experiences than Karla does with Mendez.”

“Yeesh, obviously you got the short end of the stick but I can’t help but pity those poor fools.”

He couldn’t personally empathize though he’d known plenty of guys back home where shore leave was often a dread occasion, a few days of disappointment one of them of them had said. They were often good guys that he’d trust to watch his back, they just drew a shitty lot in that part of life. They fell into a comfortable silence as she sewed up his hand before moving on to his calf, it stung as she worked but nowhere near as bad as it had earlier, despite the prodding of his wound he felt his eyelids grow heavy.

“You know I’ve been enjoying the book you lent me.” His weary eyes turned to her as she spoke, “I’ve also been looking into the real-life account.”

“Found anything?” Being completely honest with himself he’d totally forgotten about that, though if depending on how long he was kept off of missions, a book may be perfect timing.

“I believe so, a collection of journal entries by an Arab merchant known as Ahmad Ibn Fadlan. It seems he was sent as an envoy long ago and ended up stumbling across a group of Vikings traveling along the Volga. It seems the book you have took a little more than just inspiration for the story.”

“Well hot damn, does it talk about a stunning young Viking with great hair with the last name of Kasporov?”

“I don’t believe so, though if I remember right it talks about a short hairy man but bad breath by the name of Kasporov.” She flashed him a smile as she quipped. “I also took the liberty of having the book delivered, when it arrives I’ll make sure it finds itself in your hands.”

“Much appreciated Doc though I have to ask. This is supposed to be a top secret outpost right? How the hell does something get delivered here, same for just about everything else here, the food, the gear, the supplies, this all has to come from an outside source.”

“You’d be right about that, though just because we’re a defunct organization doesn’t mean we’re totally abandoned. The governments saw us a liability, but our work earned us many friends who we’re more than willing to do some extra work to see us supplied.”

“Hmm, so there was more to Overwatch than just shooting some Talon mercs?”

Angela shot him a solemn glance, “There was, I still believe in what Overwatch is doing now of course but it used to be much different back then. We weren’t just a fighting force, we acted as peacekeepers, gave aid across the globe, responded to emergencies and disasters, wherever help was needed we were there. I’m well aware that at our current strength we simply can’t afford to do it, but I’ve been talking with Wilson about doing a little more medical work, either through volunteering aid or disclosing my research.”

“I imagine being associated with Overwatch doesn’t help to do that kinda work.”

“You’re not wrong…”

“I’m sensing a but coming up.”

She chuckled, “But – and not to brag – I’ve gotten a handful of requests from universities, medical expos, and the line to give presentations on my work despite my current occupation. I hope that eventually I’ll be able to openly accept some of these invitations, to share what I’ve been working on that could save so many lives.”

Despite Adrian’s own past prejudices tainting his opinion of the ape, Winston himself seemed like he was far too empathetic to decline Ziegler’s requests for long, “The big guy’s gotta be cracking soon right?”

“I think so, the public showings are a bit more difficult of a sell especially with the increased Talon presence lately, but volunteering my staff and I to people in need of medical assistance, I feel he’ll allow that to happen any day now. Its discreet, in a remote location, it’s perfect for helping to restore the original vision of Overwatch while staying under the radar.” Her voice was firm with resolve, the look in her eyes was dedicated to her goal, a noble pursuit.

“Well I doubt it’ll have much sway, but you’ll have my full support Doc, at the least it’ll be a nice change of pace to help people with their injuries rather than give them said injuries.”

“I appreciate that Adrian…it means a lot.” Adrian blinked as she called him by his first name, he turned to face her but she’d apparently found it rather embarrassing as her face grew a rosey shade of red. Turning away she mumbled something to herself about misplacing something, when she’d turned back around her face had adopted a more professional look as she decided to change the topic of conversation to the mundane. The longer they talked the more Adrian felt himself slipping into the comfortable embrace of sleep, he couldn’t say when he finally gave into the temptation only that he was probably dull company for Doctor Zielger as she finished up her procedures.

~~~~~~~

_“-the colony known as Kholo in the Diub system was glassed soon after being conquered by the Covenant forces, as if a final insult to humanity the Sangheili Shipmaster has apparently emblazoned a Glyph of Faith onto the surface of the world.” The radio in the UNSC barracks blasted, “Men and woman of the UNSC, this is far from the first planet to be glassed, and I can guarantee that there will be dozens more in the future, but I’m sure that many of you here on Barker Station considered Kholo your home. For that you have my utmost sympathies, but I want you to remember this feeling of pain within you, this pang of hatred rising up, because this feeling is felt by billions across the galaxy whenever those Covenant filth lay our planets bare. Vow not just to yourself-”_

_Adrian tuned out the rest of the speech as he felt himself fall back onto his bunk in shock, the words still not fully processing in his mind. It…it couldn’t be…they’d spoken just a little over a week ago. For the planet to be do devastated in such a short time – his mind ran around in circles trying to find flaws, to find a hole in what he’d heard, trying to find any reason why his home hadn’t been just wiped from the face of existence. If he’d just waited then maybe he could’ve helped, instead he left Chloe to practically fend for herself. God why did he have to leave, that feeling of reckless patriotism, his duty to humanity that had been plastered all over the city…no… now he was just making excuses for himself._

_It was his own decision to leave, his own willing idea that he had to do what was right not just for humanity but for his family, he swore he’d make the universe a safe place for Chloe and instead he left her to die. The more his mind dwelt on it the more the pain came to him, eventually he could feel the hot tears streaming down his face as the reality came crashing down upon his shoulders. They say that the longer you ignore it, the longer you hold it in the worse the pain and sorrow become, that was total bullshit. The grief he felt now was worse than anything he’d felt in his life, though he supposed it was because he’d barely lived at all, still young without a hair on his chin. Sixteen fucking years old and he felt he was ready to join, now he’d done what he felt he needed too and what did he end with, fucking nothing. The tears continued to flow as he let out a silent wail into the folds of his pillow, the muffled screams drowned out by the speech still rambling on in the background._

_He tried to turn his feelings away from the pain, to the anger he should be feeling at the damned covvies but honestly he felt nothing. It all just wrapped back around to his family, like a twisted maze with no escape, an ouroboros of suffering. He hated as sure as everyone else, hell why else would he sign up to kill them, but right now was different, the speech had told him to use that feeling of rage building up within him but what was he supposed to do when he felt nothing? Eventually the tears stopped as he laid back onto his bed, staring up to the blank ceiling above him. The feeling to cry never really left, more like he’d eventually felt so exhausted he didn’t think he’d be able to anymore, even just laying in bed felt tiring. Briefly he’d wondered if everyone had felt the same as he did, if they grieved the same way but ultimately decided it wouldn’t help to focus on the pain of others._

_He wasn’t sure when most of the people in the barracks had left – everything had passed in a blur – all he knew was that when he eventually looked up there were only a few stragglers in there with him. They were probably like him, laying back down he resumed staring at the ceiling for god knows how long, as the time passed one thought became increasingly more obtrusive until it weaseled its way into the depths of his brain. How absolutely lonely he felt._

_~~~~~_

His eye’s slowly as they got adjusted to the bright white of the medical bay, Adrian sucked in a deep breath to calm himself before slowly exhaling. His time here with Overwatch had been giving him the same feelings as back then, a sense of helplessness. While he was stuck in this comparative utopia doing rather simple work with the plenty of downtime in what would be a luxury residence in the UNSC, his brothers in arms were sacrificing themselves by the hundreds every minute fighting for Earth. These thoughts wouldn’t change the past, he had to focus on the present, on doing work here while waiting for the ape to get him a way home. Pushing himself up he looked around the room to find it empty, on a chair close to him was a note with a plate of food. The note read:

**_Apologies but duty calls, there’s always work to be done. Please take it easy on your leg, it will be sore for the next few days as the tissue heals and the muscles regenerates. Also, I figured you would be starving so I grabbed a plate from the cafeteria :)_ **

**_-Stay safe, Doctor Ziegler_ **

**_P.S I’m not kidding about the thermometer STAY SAFE_ **

**__ **

Adrian chuckled as he stuffed the note in one of his pockets, at times she reminded him very much of his mother, he supposed it was why she made such a great doctor. Grabbing the plate of food he began to inhale the food like a vacuum, after not having eaten for about a full day he was ravenous. It was a medley of typical breakfast foods, eggs, ham, bacon, toast, but compared to the UNSC it was orgasmic, the UNSC had made hundreds of thousands of technological advancements but MREs seemingly never progressed past just being decent. Unsure of what to do with the now empty plate, he took one more look around the room before placing it back on the chair and leaving it. As he left the med-bay he set up a quick check-list of things he needed to do; when he got back to his room he’d look over the rest of his armor for damage besides the obvious, have Athena message Bridgette to take his armor for repairs, find satellite images of Russian territory they were in to try and find likely spots the elite would’ve, and his personal highlight, fucking around with the covenant weapons a bit. Sure, as ODSTs they’d all had enough training with covvie tech to be reasonably comfortable, but he never got tired of messing around with their weapons. The energy swords especially were difficult to come by, so he’d relish in ‘training’ with it, as well as the thought of the elites shuddering in disgust as a human laid its filthy heretical hands upon their sacred weapon gave Adrian immeasurable pleasure.

Almost immediately after he’d entered his own room a series of hesitant knocks at his door captured his attention. Turning on his heel he opened the sliding door to reveal Hana standing unsure outside his room, she turned in surprise upon seeing him.

“Did you uh…knock on the wrong door pip-squeak?”

“No!....No…I meant to come see you.”

“Uh huh…” Adrian crossed his arms as he leaned against the door frame, he wasn’t exactly in a rush, but he’d been hoping to knock out his work as soon as possible.

“Listen…after…well the video you showed us was pretty wild. Lots of stuff that probably won’t let me sleep easy at night but that’s beside the point, what I’m trying to say is…you fought – are still fighting – in a real war. Not that what Overwatch isn’t good, but it doesn’t hold a candle to you and… it made me think about my role in the group.”

Adrian raised his brow, he’d knew the video was uncomfortable for a lot of people, Hana especially, but he hadn’t been expecting it to have such a poignant reaction on her.

“Yeah I kick ass in my mech but what happens if I don’t have it? I don’t think it’d end well, so I want you to teach me how to fight better, I’m calling in the favor you owe me so that means you have to help me.”

Adrian stared at her in surprise, this conversation didn’t not at all go how he had first imagined it. He was at a loss for words, he’d never taught someone before, everyone he trained with was on the same level as himself and his basic training was over a decade ago. Initially he had half a mind to say no, that it wasn’t his responsibility while there were plenty of other more qualified people to train here, but something about her…just reminded him so god damn much of Chloe.

Sighing he stood up from the doorframe, “The favor doesn’t mean anything but…Alright I’ll teach you-”

“Yes!” She pumped her fists in the air.

“But no right now, I have work I gotta get done so shit doesn’t get fucked.”

“That kinda crass language isn’t attractive old man. Wait…you said the favor wouldn’t have mattered, so does that mean you would’ve helped anyway?”

“Yeah I suppose so.”

“That means I get the favor back!” A wide grin spread across her face.

“No.”

“Wh- that’s not fair! What if-”

“No.”

As she continued to throw argue throwing an amusingly childish tantrum, he couldn’t help the faint grin that spread over his face. While he lamented the fact that he was separated from his brothers in the ODSTs, he was glad for the fact that he at least wasn’t stuck with dull company.


	15. A Prelude to a Night of Forgotten Vices

**Watchpoint Gibraltar, Iberian Peninsula, Europe**

“-and so it gives each shot a bit of an extra punch, a bit more technological than I normally would’ve liked but well… I find the benefits outweigh my own personal feelings.” McCree explained as he showed his hand cannon to Adrian.

“I never would’ve expected a revolver like this to exist, quite a piece.” Adrian said as he twirled the revolver in his hands like the cowboy movies he always watched growing up. Handing the weapon back to McCree, he looked up at the clock adorning the inside of the firing range as he leaned back against a table, after Hana’s determined statement yesterday, he’d decided that he’d spend today getting a feel for her strengths and weakness starting with weapons training, Being completely honest with himself, he still wasn’t sure exactly what role she filled in Overwatch, Hana didn’t seem to fit into any typical military role despite her technical abilities he assumed it would be rather redundant at Overwatch with Athena. Besides she’d introduced herself as a soldier, Adrian shook his head as his thoughts wondered, what he should be focusing on was her lateness. He said they’d meet here at ten hundred hours yet looking at the clock it was a little over a quarter past, in the ODSTs…hell for the UNSC in general it was expected you’d get to your meeting place at least five minutes ahead of time. He sighed, unsure whether he should let it slide this once because of Overwatch’s lax regulation or enforce it even harder.

“When was she supposed to get here?” McCree turned his head towards Adrian as he loaded his revolver.

“Ten minutes ago.” Adrian responded with disappointment.

“Ah take it easy on the girl, she’s young besides there’s plenty of time yet in your training to have her make up her tardiness.” McCree flipped his revolver cylinder shut, “Tell ya what, lets take your mind of things for a bit. You up for a lil challenge?”

Adrian turned his gaze towards McCree, a feral grin growing across his features, “I’m always up for a game, especially when shooting’s involved.” He pushed himself off the table as the two made their way towards a couple empty booths to the end of the range.

“Here’s how we’ll do it, we each get six targets, whoever gets it done with the fastest with the highest accuracy wins. Headshots only.”

Adrian nodded as he drew his SOCOM from his hip, his armor was being repaired courtesy of Brigette with her stubborn ass of a father so for now he had some basic holster attached to his casual clothes. He’d felt naked outside of his armor, bare as a newborn but there wasn’t much else he could do if he’d wanted his armor back in one piece.

“Alright, what are the stakes?” Adrian questioned as he flicked the safety off.

“I’ve always wanted to go to that bar you recently went to but never got around to it. Let’s keep it simple for now, drinks are on the loser.”

Adrian snorted, when betting against other ODSTs the stakes had always been… creative…to say the least but it was nice to not be risking a court martial for a change. As McCree counted down from three, Adrian could feel his index finger twitching outside the trigger guard as he focused on the six paper targets lined out in front of him.

When the cowboy hit zero, a flurry of gunshots echoed out from their two booths in a matter of seconds. Just as soon as it had begun it was over, as Adrian holstered his pistol he turned to see McCree blow the smoke off the barrel of his revolver with a smirk before putting it in his holster with a flourish.

“Well it was fun but I’ll be enjoying those drinks on you.” McCree drawled out.

“You didn’t even ask for my results yet.”

“Don’t need to, been the fastest one here since Overwatch was founded and my shots never fail me.” Adrian looked at his results, 3.51 seconds with 93% accuracy, walking over to McCree’s both he looked on in disbelief at his score, 2.98 seconds with 95% accuracy.

“You motherfucker,” Adrian chuckled, “You do this with every new member?”

“Just ‘bout, gotta put the new recruits in their place if they think their hot shit. In your case it’s just fun to mess with you.”

Any retort was ended when a new voice entered the fray, “Sorry I’m late old-man but I was busy with work.” They turned to see Hana walking towards them.

“Work? This is your work…” Adrian said.

She shot him a curious look, “No? I’m a streamer, before Overwatch I was a champion e-sport competitor.”

Adrian was baffled at this turn of events, “You’re…a streamer while also being a solider in Overwatch?”

“Well duh.”

Adrian shot a confused look towards McCree who simply shrugged, “That’s on you partner, though I’ll make sure to fill in the blanks for you tonight while you buy me what’s owed.” He chuckled as he left the range.

“What was that about?” Hana wondered as she turned her gaze from McCree’s exiting form back to a stunned Adrian.

“That’s uhh…its nothing. I’m still trying to wrap my head around your whole situation.”

“Ughh old people, what’s so hard to understand? When I’m not fighting, I stream, sometimes I even stream my fights in my mech to boost support for Overwatch.” She gave an exasperated sigh.

Adrian knew what streaming was, it’d still had a healthy existence in his world though the military had never had any overlap with the online community like this. This whole situation felt surreal to him, the more he learned about Overwatch the more he felt his relationship with it grow more complex. Though he was interested in her role as a mech pilot as the pieces started to fall into place, they’d have plenty of time to talk later.

“I’m just going to ignore that, lets focus on what I called you here for thirty minutes ago.” She replied with a sly shrug, “For now just take a few shots at the targets down range, let me see what you’ve got so far.” Adrian instructed as she walked up to an empty stall, she pulled out the smallest pistol he’d ever seen, he stared at it in disbelief thinking it was some kind of joke.

“So Hana what the hell is that?”

“My pistol?”

“But…does it actually do damage? I don’t think it could pierce a piece of paper.”

She looked offended, “I’ll have you know this is a custom-made energy pistol, it can rapid fire fusion bolts as fast as I can pull the trigger.”

“Uh huh,” He’d wisely decided not to comment on its outrageous appearance in the hopes of actually getting something done today, “Whatever just assume the stance you’d normally use when firing and hit a few targets.”

She did as she was told, her stance being a far cry from what he was used too, it wasn’t bad per se but more so it highlighted her inexperience, a lack of discipline. When she fired her pistol it sounded more like toy than an actual weapon, there also seemed to be little it any recoil. As a mech pilot it made sense she wouldn’t have as much experience with conventional weapons, but if she only practiced with her pistol she’d be in deep trouble if she ever finds herself without it. Other than her stance, he’d have her practice with a variety of weapons so if she’s ever in the field she isn’t solely restricted to that toy blaster of hers.

When she finished she shot him a questioning look, “How’d I do?”

“Not great but not awful, your stance is too simple, it works well when you’re just starting out but in combat you need a stance that allows for more dynamic movement. You’re far too stiff while your legs are too close together, try to copy my stance.” He pulled out his SOCOM and aimed down the range, her biggest issue in his opinion was her back, it was far too straight, a little bend forward made it easier to control the recoil. She tried to imitate his posture but there were still issues in her pose, a bad stance was far worse than a simple stance. Holstering his pistol, he walked over to her to manually adjust her position.

“Hey what are- Get your hands off me you pervert!” She yelled as she tried to wiggle out from his grip.

“Jesus take it easy pip-squeak; I’m trying to fix your stance for you.” Placing his hands on the side of her torso he repositioned her to a better position, then he used his boots to nudge her feet apart for a slightly wider stance, finally he grabbed her hands to hold the pistol properly. “See? No need to burst a blood vessel, how’s that feel?”

“Weird, it doesn’t feel natural.”

“Cause your body’s not used to it, the more you practice this stance the more natural it’ll become. Take a few shots with this posture, let’s see how you do.”

Fighting the urge to resort to what felt comfortable, Hana went through the motions of firing with the new stance Adrian had showed her. When she finished she saw Adrian nodding approvingly as he glanced over results, turning to look at the digital display to her side it marked a 6% improvement in accuracy. It was a rather small advancement sure, but it didn’t diminish the swell of pride that filled her, she was always competitive in nature so being able to get better at anything had always brought on a cathartic enjoyment.

Adrian was glad to see improvements already, though he wasn’t so naïve as to believe that future results would have such drastic changes. Sure a better stance helped greatly, but a majority of her future skill will come from practice, repetition, it’ll be slow progress but in the end she’ll be just as deadly outside her mech as she is in it.

“Well that was a good start, so I guess I’ll see you here tomorrow for more practice?” Hana spoke as she put her pistol away.

“Good start? We’ve barely been here for fifteen minutes, better buckle up buttercup because we’ve got a lot more work to do.”

“Wh- what?! But my viewers will be wondering where I am!”

“Well they’ll have to wonder a bit longer than, now once was good but I was those results replicated.”

Hana stared at him slack jawed before assuming the stance she’d recently been taught as she grumbled to herself about crochety old men.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time Adrian had decided it had been enough for the day, it was half past noon, Hana was rather upset though it seemed her hunger won out over her annoyance as they both headed towards the dining hall.

“Ugh I can’t believe we spent almost three hours doing that! At the end it felt like you were just messing with me.”

“Well maybe a lil, but it’s going to take a lot of practice to change the shooting style that’s already ingrained into your reflexes. The first few days are the hardest, just be lucky you have such a great teacher.” He gave her a slapstick grin.

“Sounds like that comes from personal experience.”

“Of course, the initial training to be an ODST is to forget everything you learned in basic only instead of taking it slowly over a couple hours each day, its quite literally beaten into you every second of every hour in the span of a few days. That’s just the beginning, so trust me when I say I understand the frustration you feel but also know that you have it far easier than most.”

She gave him a sidelong glance before facing straight ahead of her, the rest of their walk passed in silence until they entered the dining hall. It was full of people, some recognizable but many not, the oddest thing was that for once he wasn’t the center of attention in the room. Without his armor he looked like any other of the regular workers on base. Going through the line of food set out, he grabbed a little bit of everything leaving him with a plate if food to rival that of Gods. Sitting down across from Hana he chuckled at the critical gaze she gave as her eyes looked over his mound of food.

“You’re going to be able to eat all of that?” She voiced her skepticism.

“Oh easily, I skipped out on breakfast, I feel like I could devour a horse…or maybe…several very large chickens.”

“Are all people from…your home as strange as you are?”

“I suppose so, facing the inevitable tends to give one a more unique outlook, though ODSTs tend to be on a whole other level most of the time. Crazy sons of bitches but listen I feel that I keep talking more about my life than actually learning anything here.”

“Your point?”

He scoffed, “Man I don’t know, tell me about yourself.”

“Myself?”

“Yeah, you stream right? What do you stream exactly, I know that people can make a living streaming damn near anything.”

“Games for the most part, I’m big into the MOBA scene and competitive gaming competitions.”

“No shit? I remember when I was in my first year of highschool that competitive gaming was sweeping like wildfire for some reason, I think some team set a bunch of records or something. God it’s been a hot while since I’ve been able to play anything, let alone have any actual hobbies other than reading the same few books over and over again.

That caught her attention as her head perked up, eyes staring at Adrian as he gorged himself on his lunch. “You play?”

“Oh yeah, lots when I was younger, ‘specially when I was in Force Recon where we’d be stuck for days or even weeks on end with nothing going on. It helped to pass the time, build a sense of bonding between the guys you were stuck in the shit with, once I became an ODST I simultaneously had more free time and no time for personal hobbies. But here I am rambling on about myself again, so you play competitively, you any good?”

She let out a good-natured scoff, “I’m the best there is! You old-timers might not know it but D.va is a name known around the world.”

He smirked, “Well if your willing to put your money where your mouth is maybe sometime soon you can take some notes from a real master.”

Adrian noticed that her previously dour mood had noticeably brightened, instead of sulking about the extra work she was back to her usual animated self. Part of him hoped that she’d forget this wager he pushed forward, not that he wouldn’t enjoy a nostalgic break but if this kid was as good as she said she was he doubted he’d be able to put up much of a fight. He never considered himself a sore loser, but he also wasn’t that excited at the prospect of being obliterated time and time again. The rest of the lunch past with spirited conversation over their newfound common interest though it was mostly Hana’s overjoyed excitement as Adrian threw in his two cents whenever there was an opening. Afterwards they went their separate ways though Adrian found himself wandering without much a purpose, back home soldiers were put on ice in cryogenics if there was a long gap between missions. Now with an abundance of free time he’d found himself at a loss for what to do, eventually he found himself outside on the main bay that overlooked the ocean. With nothing better to do he walked up to the cliffs edge and sat down, legs dangling over the precipice as he simply took in the calm lapping of the ocean waves. Laying back he closed his eyes deciding to rest until something came up, it seemed to be an ingrained trait with a lot of marine in the USNC to be able to sleep on command. When the covvies are near relentless in their attacks you have to try to get some shut eye when you can, oftentimes for only minutes at a time.

His sleep was restless but ultimately uneventful, he awoke to a constant nudging to his eye, cracking open his eyes he noticed the sky that had once been a clear blue was now a darker shade of red as the sun went down past the horizon. Looking around for the source of the nudging he turned to see a nonchalant Reinhardt lightly kick him with the tip of his boot.

“Agh knock it off you lumbering mountain I’m awake.”

Reinhardt gave a hearty chuckle as he helped to pulled Adrian to his feet, “Ja my friend you are awake now! Earlier you were in such a deep slumber I doubted a cannon could rouse you!”

Dismissively waving the man’s statements away Adrian asked the question at the forefront of his mind, “What do you need, we got a mission or what?”

“No no space-man, I came to invite you for a round of drinks! Your presence the last couple nights was sorely missed, it’s hard to toast your valiant efforts against the foul beast when you’re not there.”

“Yeah well I was busy trying not to die.”

“What do you say? Tonight, do we drink?”

“I’ve already got plans with McCree for this bar out of town, lost to a bet and now I owe him.”

A knowing smile spread across Reinhardt’s face, “He managed to get you too huh? I wonder if he’ll ever meet his match or find someone with enough sense not to accept his boastful challenges.”

“Yeah yeah whatever.”

“Ah but wait! This is perfect, I’ll simply come along with you and McCree, the merrier with more as the saying goes!”

Adrian turned to Reinhardt with a confused expression, “That’s not…never mind sure whatever but I ain’t paying for your damn drinks. Especially with you, I’m sure you could down a whole damn barrel of whiskey and still be right as rain.”

“You’re probably right my friend!”

As they walked on eventually meeting up with McCree near the gates of the Gibraltar outpost, Adrian couldn’t help but feel a mistake had been made somewhere along the way. Looking back on it Adrian was more right than he’d ever thought though the events that transpired were also beyond his own imagination. Though perhaps it can largely be attributed to the fact that he couldn’t remember a single thing that occurred that night, instead having to piece together the events the next day with a raging hangover, just like his nights on shore leave with the ODSTs.


	16. Something You Can't See

**Talon Headquarters, San Polo Sestieri, Venice, Italy**

“Our production and export of equipment into Russia is at an all-time peak, stirring up the locals with our own imbedded forces has only served to boost weapon sales.” One voice spoke up.

“But what about the actual protesters? Won’t they realize that our extremist sect is discrediting their work and attempt to disown our own forces? If that happens this will have all been for naught, we’re trying to use this unrest to embed more of our operatives in higher official roles but that won’t work if these reforms pass.” A second voice spoke out worriedly, uncertainty lacing its words.

“Calm yourself for it is as you say, the extremists will discredit their country-wide demonstrations, but you worry needlessly. You must remember that despite that Democratic façade, it is an Oligarchy at its heart, change will only be brought out if the true majority of the population seeks change. These protests are widespread yes, but still a populational minority, most of the country is ignorantly uninformed of the true situation so when a radical group of the supposedly peaceful protesters resorts to violence…” The first voice trailed off, leaving the other to come to the right conclusions.

“The majority will only see the worst parts! Ah fantastic, this plan works from all angles, because not only will the aggravated loyalists seeks to then arm themselves from which they will of course come to us for support, but this will sow turmoil within the peoples! Doomfist’s vision comes through the action taken by people of all sides, apologizes for my own ineptitude that I could not see such brilliance.”

“Worry not, I understand that you’ve been preoccupied with your own worries, of which I’d like to bring one to the forefront of todays meeting.” The first voice spoke out, his words taking a dark edge as he finished. Murmurs from others in the meeting grew, what could be such a problem that it need such prominent attention? “Members of Talon it has come to attention that Overwatch has recruited a new key member, name currently unknown that we have sources looking into it. Originally this was thought of nothing more than the hiring of some freelance mercenary, however, as are records consistently come up empty we are left with an enigma on our hands. This is only compounded by the fact that despite his recent foray into Overwatch, he is already proving to be one of their most versatile, capable of handling any number of missions with a skillset and gear unknown to the best of us, he is ruthless and poses a great threat to our objectives.” The previously quiet murmurs exploded into full blown questions, demanding why such a vital piece of information had been kept from them.

The voices went silence as the first voice rose its hand, bring a silence to the room. “I understand that many of you have questions, are worried, or perhaps even furious, those feelings are to be expected but I must demand to control them. Yes, a new threat has arisen however there is an even more pressing matter that coincides with our first point. Overwatch and the Russian Federation are planning to collaborate to end the work we’ve put so much effort into, this must take priority. However as it so happens, according to informants within the Federation, this unknown new arrival is going to take part in the series of attacks against our facilities. While our priority is making sure not to lose our progress, I also want you all to learn as much as you can about this new arrival. Knowledge is our lifeblood, I doubt he poses any serious threat to Doomfist, but as an unknown he is a wildcard…and who knows, maybe he’ll end up be more use for us than we thought.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Somewhere in the City of Gibraltar, Iberian Peninsula, Europe**

A weak groan broke the still silence of the room, Adrian’s head pounded like a gorilla played the bongos with his skull. The previous night was all a blur, he vaguely remembered drinks being downed, an argument starting up, and then it all became an uncertain haze. Hesitantly he opened his eyes, afraid that the blinding light of the sun would scorch his eyes, to his surprise his eyes took in a cooling dark room, a place he’d never seen before. At first he thought he blacked out somewhere in the bar, but slowly as his other senses came to him the environment became clear. The caress of cool sheets touched his bare skin, his back was cushioned by a hefty mattress not the hard floorboards of the bar, a soft snore broke the thought process of his mind, turning to see the disturbance he was greeted with the sight of a woman laying not far from. Her back’s pale skin shone from the little amount of light creeping through the blinds on the windows, dark short hair splayed out upon her pillow, Adrian couldn’t help but take in the sight before grumbling to himself.

“First lay in what feels like a year and I wasn’t even sober enough to remember it.” Despite his griping Adrian was rather enjoying the moment if simply because the cool pillow was doing wonders for his throbbing hangover. Using the mostly still sound to think, he remembered that Brigette should be done repairing his calf armor today, it was a blessing that the plasma bolt his such a relatively simple area of his gear for if it’d done any damage to the complex electrical systems then that’d be a whole new set of problems. Sitting up in the bed he planned to quietly make his exit and try to piece together what had happened last night, but a light grip on his wrist brought his attention to the woman.

“Trying to sneak out without so much as a goodbye?” She said with a deep husky voice as she rolled over, her voluptuous body breaking free of the constraint of the bed sheets. Internally Adrian couldn’t help but wonder at what point he managed to snag someone he considered far out of his league.

“I thought sneaking out like an asshole was trendy these days.” The woman gave an airy laugh before bringing her gaze to Adrian’s body.

“I can’t say I’ve ever seen a man so marred as you before, its quite…exhilarating to be frank.” She purred, and just like that the pieces fell into place, he was almost like an exotic exhibit though he wouldn’t fault her in the least, hell he’d done the same thing plenty of times. Besides its not like they decided to blindly fuck for their extraordinary personalities while piss drunk.

“Its far less exhilarating to get these wounds I can assure you.”

“Why don’t we see if we can make a few more…temporary…scars.” She said as she slowly dragged her fingernails across the bedding. Adrian grinned, freak show or not they were both getting what they wanted especially when she was far above his reach normally, so all things considered he thought he was getting the better end of the deal. Still gripping Adrian’s wrist, she tugged it closer to her placing his hand upon her breast, Adrian brought himself to her body, embracing her deeply as their mouths closed over each other muffling her moans. He felt a jolt of excitement as he felt the black-haired woman dragging her nails down his back as she wrapped her legs around his waist, bringing him in even deeper into their fiery embrace. Briefly Adrian wondered if he shouldn’t get blackout drunk more often, the thought was immediately tossed from his mind as he felt her slowly pushing him down her body, an act that he gladly welcomed as he disappeared under the bedsheets.

………

Adrian sat on the edge of the bed as she made her made out the door, “If you ever find yourself bored, don’t hesitate to give me a call.” The woman –whose name he still didn’t know– smirked as she closed the door behind her, he turned towards the bedside table upon which a number was scrawled in bright red ink upon a clean sheet of paper. Chuckling to himself he began to get dressed, grabbing the number off the table he stuffed it into his back pocket as he made sure nothing was missing. Satisfied that the woman hadn’t robbed him or that he wasn’t forgetting something he opened the door to be meet with a simple hallway expanding to the right and left. It then only occurred to Adrian that of course he wasn’t in the damn bar, it had seemed such a simple thing, but he hadn’t even given it a passing thought. After a short wander through the hotel, followed by an even longer period wandering through the streets of the city, he managed to find The Waterfront Lounge. Walking in he saw it was almost entirely empty, not surprising considering it was eleven in the morning, but Franco’s niece Cassandra was cleaning the bar while McCree laid curled up in the corner snoring loudly.

“Ah I was wondering when you’d come back.” Cassandra spoke up without even taking her eyes from her work.

“We didn’t cause too many problems last night did we? It’s all a blur for me.” He sheepishly shrugged as he walked up to her.

She sighed putting the rag down on the bar top, “Honesty? Not really, you guys were loud sure, but you didn’t cause any shit or fight anyone so that’s a step up from most people already. Though I left not long after you got wasted so I can’t say what else happened.”

“And what about the big guy, did you see him at all this morning.”

She shook her head while resuming her duties, Adrian thanked her before walking over to the passed-out form of McCree, he chuckled to himself at the rather demeaning sight of the macho cowboy curled like an infant. Crouching down onto the soles of his feet, Adrian looked at McCree’s sleeping face before he pinched the man’s nose shut. The dozing man stirred in his sleep as his brow furrowed before eventually his brain registered that something was wrong, his eyes opened with a start but as soon as Adrian released his fingers the man passed back out.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Adrian muttered to himself as he repeated the actions except when McCree’s eyes fluttered open, he gave the woozy cowboy a thunderous slap across his face. So forceful it knocked McCree’s head into the wall not far from them, Cassandra barely even paid them any mind as it she’d probably seen this schtick a thousand times before. Though in the end it seemed to work for the cowboy as he grumbled about a splitting headache as he clumsily pushed himself from the floor.

“I didn’t think you were a lightweight Jesse.” McCree slowly turned his head to look at Adrian, the faintest flickers of recognition gracing his face.

“Adrian? What the…Jesus I feel awful.”

“You don’t say? Come on we’ve gotta get you out of here.” With measured action Adrian slowly got Jesse on his feet, with one last wave to Cassandra he guided the stumbling cowboy out of the bar and into the daylight.

“Do you remember anything? It all just feels…my mind just blanks when I try to think of last night.” McCree questioned.

Adrian shook his head, “Same here, got fucking zilch, though I woke up with a high-class broad so I’m not complaining.”

McCree’s head shot towards him, “You’re shitting me? You of all people? Been here for half a month and already making yourself acquainted with the locals.”

“Maybe it’s karma for fighting a losing war for thirteen years, luck decided to grace me with something nice for once.” Adrian joked, “But don’t be too hard on yourself, we both know cowboys aren’t the hottest trend anymore.”

“Not that it matters but I’m doin mighty fine as it is.”

“Sure buddy…sure.” They both laughed as they walked back towards the base, when they eventually arrived McCree decided to hit up Doctor Ziegler for some pain meds, still complaining about his head. Adrian refrained from enlightening the man but wished him the best, as he begun his walk to find Brigette for his armor he was intercepted by Amari, apparently Winston had new plans for them.

“Only gave me brief details but he wants to brief us on our mission in Russia, apparently we won’t be working alone.” Amari explained as they walked towards the ape’s lab.

“Already, I thought that wasn’t going to happen for at least another week?”

She gave him an uncertain shrug, “Guess they pushed it up a bit? Maybe realized that it was serious problem? Who knows.”

Adrian nodded, he knew especially well that military bureaucracy was a whole crock of shit full of red tape and inexperience, taking his mind from Russia brought up an important question for him, “Have you seen Reinhardt at all today?”

“Hmm? Yeah came in early this morning, said that he’d left you to bring back McCree. That man’s a lot more of a lightweight than you’d think, being a cowboy and all you think he would be able to hold his liquor.”

Adrian chuckled at that, “No shit.”

When they entered the labs, there was a sizable number of Overwatch members gathered around the table, apparently Winston had plans for all members on base. When they entered, Winston motioned for them to wait while he finished briefing the group in-front of them, it seemed to be more on the logistical side than anything else, so Adrian tuned it out.

When Winston had finished up he waved over Amari and Adrian, “I’ll brief the others as they come but for now I’ll lay out the general plan. I’ve been in contact with Lieutenant General Valinsky and the diplomat Gorgoi, they’ve said that shipments into the country have increased and the radicals are becoming more aggressive, so they want us to act as soon as possible. Coordinating with their intelligence branch, we believe we’ve found one of their main hideouts in Vladivostok, a port city on Russia’s Eastern coast. It’s located in a commercial district, likely an easy way to allow large amounts of people to come and go without arousing suspicion.

“As you can see on the map, despite its location in a commercial district the building itself is quite large, so you’ll be inserting with a number of Russian operatives as well. Also to note is it’s public location, so you’ll gather in this hotel here a few blocks down in casual clothing to avoid suspicion. At the hotel you’ll equip your gear, meet the Russians, and formulate your plan of attack. There’s a back alley that stretches to the hideout from the hotel, you’ll use that to hopefully avoid catching the public eye but well there’s not much else we can do. We’re trying to keep this discreet so keep it quiet, don’t arouse suspicion and it should go fine. Any questions?”

Adrian voiced his thoughts, “Normally when I’ve dealt with innies…insurrectionists that is, they’d have multiple smaller safehouses spread throughout the area. I’d assume its not different here, so what’s the plan for those smaller ones?”

“Good question, we have a couple places marked as potential safehouses and the Russians are keeping tabs on them. The idea is that when you raid the main outpost, they’ll simultaneously breach the safehouses, if you find any relevant info regarding possible other locations, we have a back-up team waiting on call for such an event. Any more questions?”

With silence as his answer Winston gave a firm nod, “Alright then, get your gear packed we’re leaving tonight and attacking tomorrow.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Covenant Cruiser _Ordained Salvation_ In Orbit Above Viz III, Diub System**

Shipmaster Roj’Kaskan Vazamee was irritated to say the least, these pesky heretical heathens we’re dug into their planet quite well. After a fruitless initial invasion that only ended with severe losses on their end, it had been advised that they first attempt to weaken the humans. An absolutely preposterous idea, that these worms beneath his feet need to be weakened first before they can be killed like the filth they are. This planet held no value whatsoever, there was no artifact of the Gods hidden upon it but for whatever reason the Prophet of Reparations had demanded that he take the planet without resorting to glassing. It was pointless in Roj’s opinion but who was he to deny the words of a prophet, and despite his own disagreements he couldn’t stand the thought of simply glassing this world after being so humiliated. No…this planet would fall to his might yet, all he needed was time but in the meantime, he would plan his attack from the command center.

“Shipmaster, I bring urgent news!” A Minor walked up from behind him, interrupting his thoughts and worsening his already foul mood.

“Spit it out, I have no time to waste on meaningless tirades.”

“I can assure you this is worth your attention; do you know the corvette _Breath of the Gods_? It sustained a large amount of damage in a previous engagement with the humans, mid-jump the combined strain of slipspace and its dangerously weakened hull caused it to split apart.”

“Yes yes a tragic event,” He replied dismissively, “is there any point to this or are you simply wasting my time with my failures?”

“Erhm no Shipmaster my apologies, when the corvette was stripped for supplies everything was taken into account, and its now come to my attention that while just about everything was documented, there is an odd discrepancy.”

Now he wouldn’t outwardly show it, but that had piqued his interest. The destruction regarding _Breath of the Gods_ was unusual enough, it was extremely rare for ships to be destroyed during a slipspace jump, but now there was supposedly more to it. He motioned for the lower ranking Sangheili to continue.

“As I was looking through the documentation, I noticed that there was a missing ship. Which I understand doesn’t sound unusual on its own, but every single piece of the ship was marked, whether it was still functional or beyond repair it was noted down. However every major piece of the ship came out through the slipspace jump, except for this once single ship…A phantom carrying a handful of troops has just seemingly vanished. There’s not a sign that the ship was ever destroyed, it appears as if it just simply disappeared from existence.”

“Hmm…this is quite the anomaly. I want you to look into this further with whatever resources you need. If you provide results, I can guarantee great things for you in the future, so be warned…do not disappoint me.”

“Yes Shipmaster.” The Sangheili left the command deck leaving Roj to think in piece. He doubted this new information would offer any aid to his current problem, but it was an interesting development…quite interesting indeed.


	17. Little Drop of Poison

**Vladivostok, Russia, Asia**

Adrian slammed a fresh magazine into M7S sub-machinegun as he looked around the hotel room, Amari, and himself along with a handful of her best men arrived ahead of schedule. Now they were prepping their gear waiting for the Russian operatives to arrive save Amari who was already decked out in her battle armor. For the sake of the operation she wouldn’t be taking part in the direct assault per se, her armor stood out far too much and was the exact opposite of subtle. So unless things got dicey, she’d be providing support from the rooftops; as great a fighter as she was they needed the element of surprise, and as Adrian had been told Amari was one hell of a strategist. Adrian pulled the SOCOM from its holster slightly pulling the slide back to check it worked smoothly. With time to spare he figured he might as well get to know the soldiers he’d be working with, despite his time with Overwatch he wasn’t the most sociable with others, however when you go into the field you need to know that the man watching your back is someone you can trust.

Walking up to the nearest Overwatch soldier Adrian stuck out his hand, “Lance Corporal Kasporov, doubt we’ve been introduced.”

The man turned a faint look of surprise upon his face, “Heh we all know who you are, though you get results so I guess I can’t hold much of a grudge, Gunnery Sergeant Vickers.” The man known as Vickers gave a shake back.

“You got any clue what we’re walking into Gunny?”

“Know about as much as you do, supposedly these Russians are holding all the intel to make sure we don’t clear the outpost ourselves.” Vickers snorted.

“Eh what can you do.” Adrian murmured, “Though I’m curious if you don’t mind me askin’, how long you served with Overwatch?”

Vickers pondered the thought in his head before answering, “Probably going on about a year now, most of us here worked under Lieutenant Amari when she was the security chief at Helix Industries and followed her when she came to Overwatch.”

“Damn that’s some loyalty.”

“Before Helix I spent ten years in the service, in that time I can count on one hand the number of superiors I genuinely respected. When I was offered a high-ranking position in Helix security, I figured at least the pay would be better, figured my commanding officer would just be another fresh out of the academy officer that’s still wet behind the ears. Instead I was positioned under Lieutenant Amari, in the six years I spent under her command I’ve never once doubted her orders. It’s rare to find a commander like that y’know?”

Adrian nodded, when he became an ODST it wasn’t uncommon to be passed around depending on the situation, sometimes even ONI would step in but those were rare for his squad. He’d seen dozens of different officers and while he was lucky enough to say he never truly despised any of them for their incompetence, some were clearly commanders of an entirely different caliber. So willing to go above and beyond that they could inspire even the glummest, most cynical son of a bitch in the platoon. While he hadn’t spent enough time with Amari to get a true understanding of her character, looking at her now he could see many admirable traits in a leader. She was going over plans with her subordinates, taking their questions in stride, admitting when one of them had a better idea and incorporating it into the plan. Ranks of course exist for a reason, you don’t want some dumb-shit private drawing up the plans, but its always good to get an outside perspective to see things in a new light.

The sounds of the door unlocking caused everyone to tense, Adrian’s hand instinctively went to the pistol on his side. As it was pushed open, a group of six walked through carrying large duffle bags, it was likely that these were the Russian operatives but there was no guarantee that their communications were tapped or there was a mole somewhere passing information.

Amari spoke up from her position at the table, a passphrase that was verbally passed through a number of trusted couriers as a means of identification, “O man, take care.”

The leader of the group, a slim man with dark cropped hair replied, “What does the deep midnight declare?” The tension in the room noticeably dropped, four soldier behind the man walked past and began to equip their gear, mingling with the Overwatch troops as the leader walked towards the Amari flanked by what Adrian assumed was his right-hand man.

“Apologies, I hope you haven’t been waiting long?” The man asked as dropped his duffel bag.

“Not at all, Lieutenant Fareeha Amari.” She introduced, turning towards Vickers and Adrian, “This Gunnery Sergeant Vickers, and Lance Corporal Kasporov.”

“Sergeant First Class Anton Gregori, this is my second-in-command Junior Sergeant Sasha Vadalia. Now let’s get into the details of this operation.”

Sergeant Gregori pulled out a small translucent disc which when placed on the table pulled a fully detailed holographic map of the building. “The building itself is two stories including a sizeable basement which is likely where a majority of the weapons are being stashed. Being a former warehouse, it’s comprised of wide-open spaces with only a small handful of separate rooms. As far as we could tell, there was anywhere from twenty-five to thirty radicals inside at any given time, but we should operate on the assumption that it’s at least thirty.” Gregori started out, highlight key points as he briefed the room.

Amari spoke up, “What about weapons? Are they all armed or are some simply enthusiastic protestors, and do we know what kind of gear they’re using?”

He shook his head, “We’re uncertain, though it seems only handpicked trusted individuals are allowed to deal with the weapons trade so we should expect Talon mercs and radicals looking for a fight. Despite this we should try to use our early element of surprise to bag one or two alive for further interrogation.” Winston had outlined a similar train of thought when discussing the plan with Amari and himself, Adrian pushed that thought from his mind as the Sergeant First Class continued, “There’s going to be twelve men on the ground, not including Lieutenant Amari on over sight, we’ll split into three groups of four with each squad breaching through one of the three entrances. Once the main floor is secured, Alpha squad lead by myself will move onto the second floor, meanwhile Delta squad lead by Gunnery Sergeant Vickers will hold on the first floor to make sure no stranglers escaped. Finally, Zeta squad led by Junior Sergeant Vadalia would move onto secure the basement and check for weapons, ammunition, gear, and anything else noteworthy.

“These precautions are to ensure that Talon doesn’t leave and clear out whatever they have stashed, once we get to the building itself expect to go loud. Most of this info has been on a need-to-know basis so the local authorities haven’t been alerted, it’s likely they already have a dozen moles within their ranks, hence our current operation as opposed to simply rolling in with an APC and cleaning house. The point I’m trying to make is I want this done quick and clean, we can hold off the authorities only if the fighting is done by the time they arrive, we’re technically out of our jurisdiction so you understand where I’m coming from.” Nodded heads across the room.

“Alright, Adrian you’ll be going with the Junior Sergeant, out of everyone in Overwatch you have the most experience in direct action and counter-terrorism ops. If that’s alright with you Sergeant First Class?”

He gave an affable nod, “I have no qualms with that, now that the plan settled are there any final questions?” At the answering silence he gave another nod, “All right let’s move out, Zeta squad you take point.”

They wordlessly walked to the large window located at the end of the room, trying to keep this operation as covert as possible meant a series of unusual steps had to be taken. Obviously one of the most usual was meeting in this hotel room, but as Winston mentioned they didn’t want to telegraph their presence; coming in on a dropship or walking through the street in full gear would set off some alarms giving the Talon forces time to escape or destroy whatever incriminating evidence they had.

Lifting the window, they quietly removed the screen placing it inside the room, an old fire escape that lined the building would be their exit. Adrian stepped out onto the rickety fire escape first, a heavy rain had begun pouring outside, muffling the creaking of the rusted metal. Slowly making his way down the metal steps he could feel the others following suit behind him, the end of the fire escape hung a few meters from the ground. Adrian slowly lowered himself before dropping with a quiet thud, water splashing around him as he took a quick look around the back alley. From here it was practically a straight shot to the Talon hideout, a long narrow alley in the dead of night only lit but the lights from passageways leading to the street. The chatter of civilians as they walked past echoed throughout the tight corridor, reports indicated that it was rare for people to walk through here, but they had to be on their guard.

As the final member of Zeta squad landed behind him, Adrian turned to check that they were set, their void black armor blending in with the darkness of the night, not a single sliver of skin was visible under the armor. The only sign that they were actually there was the faint reflection on their NVG from the lights pouring in from the street. Turning back around as he equipped his M7S submachine gun, they began to slowly trek through the alleyway, the heavy rain covering the sound of their footsteps, turning on his VISR the entire world became tinted in a faint green the visibility slightly improving while highlight objects of interest. The atmosphere was one of a hunter stalking it’s prey though there was no chase per se it held the same tension, the slow, methodical, crawl as the beast draws ever nearer to its hunt, careful as to not arouse suspicion. As they passed the first path to the main street, Adrian turned his head ever so slightly to the right to catch a glimpse before it passed by. The lights were blinding, each droplet of rain amplifying the commercial district’s luminosity, dozens of people walked by every second with the sidewalks bustling with life. Had someone decided to for whatever instance look into the alleyway and focus, truly focus they would see what could only be described as living shadows, or walking nightmares perhaps depending on who you ask.

As they continued further into the alley, their objective could slowly be made out through the darkness, a two-story tall brick building with a long panel of windows along the entirety of the second floor. The interior lights blasted through the windows, a sharp contrast to the night sky above it.

“For an ‘abandoned’ building it sure looks like its chugging along.” One of the troops muttered behind him followed by a harsh shush by Vadalia. Another streak of light was drawn across the alleyway in front of them as they passed the final corridor to the street, Adrian’s body froze as he heard voices coming close…closer than just the average pedestrian walking by. Signaling for the rest to fall back against the wall, Adrian pressed his shoulders against the brick of the building to his right.

“Aye man what are we doing here? This place is sketchy as fuck.” One of the civilians asked as they came further into the alley, each splashing step telling Adrian how much closer they were coming. If push came to shove, they could just knock them out, but that’s already assuming a lot for best case scenario, what if they ran away? They weren’t about to open fire on some dumb fucking kids for walking into an alley.

“No man it’s good come here, look what I got.” The sound of a bag rustling caught his ears as the second voice spoke up, another man.

“Hoooolllyyy shit man,” The first man dropped his voice to a whisper, “is that rapture?” Rapture? Adrian hadn’t heard of it but it didn’t take a genius to put two and two together.

“Yeah, my dealer’s prices dropped because of all the influx. Supply and demand baby.” The footsteps slowed by still came, Adrian tried to inch his way backwards as quietly as possible to no avail as his foot bumped into a bag of trash, the sounds of glass echoed through the alley. He swore quietly to himself for being so reckless, the footsteps stopped, and Adrian felt his body tense.

“Did you hear that?”

“Probably just some stray cat, look forget it man I wanna get high before we get to the party.”

“…Alright, I think we’re far enough in.” Right at the lip of the back alley the two stopped only a few meters from Zeta squad. They held their breath, it would just take one wrong look to blow their cover, the darkness enveloping them would only last so long against an uncertain mind. The rain kept pouring, the sound echoing inside his helmet like a drum, with a cautious eye he watched as the two young fools opened a small bag. The first voice stuck a finger inside the bag, when he pulled his finger out it was covered in an oddly colored slime, without a moments hesitation the man smeared the gunk around his gums, moaning in ecstasy. The second man followed suit before tossing the now empty bag to join the trash ridden concrete.

“God damn I’ll never get tired of that feeling, but fuck man it always feels weird on my teeth.” One of them complained.

“Yeah yeah whatever, come on let’s get out of here we’re late enough for the party already.”

Despite the sound of their receding footsteps Adrian didn’t let his guard down until the sound of them morphed completely into the commotion of pedestrians getting on with their lives. After he felt confident that the two had moved on completely, he signaled the all clear continuing down the back alley. Stopping by where the men had been standing, he kneeled down gesturing for the others to go on ahead of him, picking up the discarded container he held it up to examine it.

A pair of footsteps stopped by him, crouching down beside him as a female voice spoke up, “Spreading by the day, first phantom spice now this.” He turned his head to see Junior Sergeant Vadalia next to him.

“What is it?” He asked her his voice quiet as he tossed the small baggie aside.

They both stood up, continuing to the warehouse, “New drug that hit the streets a few months ago, started out small but reports are coming in from across the globe of it spreading. Seems to be the hot new thing.”

“Hmm figured as much, think it’s Talon?”

She shook her head, “Not initially, doesn’t fit their manifesto of strength through conflict but maybe now they’re taking in interest in it to weed out the weak or simply to make some extra cash. No one knows for sure though.”

Adrian nodded absent-mindedly; occasionally when hitting an innie base with his squad they’d find a modest drug operation, most sects of the insurrections frowned upon involvement with narcotics but well some just couldn’t resist the temptation of money. It was outside his jurisdiction, the UNSC had their own narcotics agency, but he knew the problem was growing as the war progressed, not to anyone’s surprise really. Cartels and the like weren’t hesitant to take advantage of people’s anxiety, prey upon the fear of the Covenant to sell the idea of a world away from reality.

Their conversation didn’t continue as they came upon the warehouse, stacking against the door Adrian would be the first one in. They waited in strained silence as the other two squads passed by them like monsters in the night.

“Delta in position.”

“Alpha standing by.”

Amari’s voice broached the comms, “I’m seeing at least seven armed men on the second floor, there’s no visibility on the bottom floors.”

“Alright considering Talon isn’t an amateur group going in silent likely won’t work, if they’re smart – and they are – then they’ll have sensors detecting movement on any of the entrances. Go in loud and fast, take em’ by surprise but make sure that at least one lives.” Gregori commanded as the soldier opposite of him began to line the door with thin, stick-like explosives. “Is everybody set?” A round of yes-sirs passed over the radio.

“Alright…three…”

Adrian shifted his foot stance, the soldier behind him patted his shoulder letting him know the other man was in position and ready. Across my him Vadalia did the same to the soldier in front of her as the man prepped the detonator.

“Two…”

The rain seemed to fall harder, it seemed more like it was a waterfall, from the inside of his helmet it sounded like roaring rapids were engulfing him.

“One…”

Adrian’s finger moved from the side of his gun to resting lightly over the trigger, the first armed combatant he saw would be getting a burst through the leg. As soon as one was down and out he wouldn’t have to worry about going for non-lethal shots, its hard to try to show mercy to an enemy whose currently trying to put you in the ground.

“BREACH!” In an orchestrated cacophony the explosives went off around the building like the climax in a bombastic symphony. The door skidded back before landing with a thud, only adding to the echoing detonation. Heading into the building the first a large container laid directly ahead of him, keeping any visual of the rest of the room to a minimum. Gregori said the floors were likely open but didn’t seem to account for the fact that such open floors were likely used to store massive containers meaning that anywhere could be a potential vantage point for Talon and the radicals. As he walked to the edge of the container to peek the corner, there was an odd stillness in the air despite their entrance, peeking the corner an armed combatant was lying in wait and just like that the silence was broken.

“CONTACT, SOUTH SIDE!” The merc’s gun rattled with a burst of fire. Adrian’s split-second movement of his head, a bullet two centimeters off target, and a healthy dose of luck ensured that Adrian wouldn’t die such a pathetic death. Behind him he heard Vadalia ordering one of their squad to follow her around the other side, hopefully to flank the man keeping Adrian pinned. Not wanting to wait that long pinned like an animal, he pulled a grenade from his belt and blindly tossed it to where the man was firing. A pop followed by the screams of a man embedded with shrapnel told Adrian het hit his mark, turning the corner it’d seemed his aim was a bit far to the left as the shrapnel wasn’t as bad as Adrian had expected. Though it’d work quite well for keeping the man alive, a quick burst to the man’s kneecaps dropped him to the ground at which point the soldier behind Adrian promptly restrained him with cuffs.

“You think he’ll live?” Adrian asked off-hand as he waited for his partner to secure the target, pops of gunfire could be heard through the building, across the way he could see Vadalia making quick work of a couple goons in her way.

“Sadly, I’ll have to think so.” The man chuckled with a deep, surprisingly soothing voice, to which Adrian mentally named him Baritone. Keeping watch, he spotted movement out of the corner of his eye, a man about to make his way in-between a stack of crates in the center, the key word there being ‘about’. A quick pull on the trigger of his M7S dropped the man before he even fully stepped out into the open, feeling a tap on his back he knew it meant Baritone was done. As they made their way through the maze of crates and containers a handful of radicals thought they’d have the upper hand on whoever they came across. But the radicals were cocky, sloppy, arrogant, assumed that no matter what they’d win because they had Talon supporting them, in the end they didn’t even have the time to process their failures and Adrian and Baritone put them down like animals. 

Above them the sound of shattered glasses followed by yells of surprise told them that Amari had moved on from her observatory position to helping with the direct assault. The key advantage she had was her partial flight capabilities, the ability to quickly zip to the top of a building and then when needed dash across with great speed from rooftop to second story of a building was something that none other than herself could do. The time it would take for regular soldiers to scale a building, cross half a dozen rooftops, then repel could be done in half the time by herself, especially when the warehouse alone in the commercial district.

Baritone and Adrian continued to push to the center of the building meeting no resistance, when they turned past one final crate the space opened up into a wide open space with an enclosed stairwell in the middle hastily surrounded by boxes to provide some form of cover. Looking around the open area, he could see Alpha squad coming from the left, Delta squad directly across from himself, and Vadalia flanking from the right.

Automatic gunfire surprised them as a bullet almost nicked Baritone as Adrian yanked him back by the collar. Choosing an enclosed stairwell meant the only way up or down was through the single door to said stairwell, the problem was compounded by their tightly fortified area, ramshackle as it was it. Backing up a ways; he grabbed a flash bang from his belt and tossed it over the containers blocking his view waiting for the tell-tale pop of the explosion. When he heard the bang he quickly popped out from behind cover utilizing their confusion to push forward. His eye quickly caught a trio of men stumbling out of their cover, with practiced precision he held down the trigger unleashing a torrent of bullets that ripped through them. As the other Talon mercs and radicals turned to face Adrian, surprise evident at his ferocity, Delta and Alpha squads utilized their focus on Adrian to open fire. A few managed to a couple shots in, but were harmlessly deflected off his titanium composite armor, the feeling was akin to being flicked really hard, so in other words…harmless. Surprise turned to horror as Adrian effortlessly ignored their bullets, no one else was able to open fire as most of the men hiding behind the rickety fortifications were shredded by the combined fire of the two squads, a few that managed to survive the assault popped up in an attempted surprise attack only to get shot in the back by Vadlia as she came from behind.

The area quieted save for Amari’s fighting upstairs, wasting little time Gregori moved onto the second floor while commanding Vickers to check for stragglers and secure the first floor. As Alpha squad moved to support Amari, Vadalia led the squad to the basement where it was expected hold the most resistance. Use of grenades wasn’t a wise idea in a room storing an untold number of weapons, so clearing out the basement would be far harder than the top two floors. Entering the basement was the definition of dingy, even under his helmet he could feel the thickness in the air like a moldy humidity. The further they continued into the basement the more uncertain Adrian became, something was off, he could feel it deep within himself. As they inched through the bottom floor he made sure to check out the surrounding area, sure itself it was littered with armor, crates packed to the brim with weapons, grenades, bombs, basically everything a radical needed to create chaos.

“Amari its Adrian, I’ve got visuals on weapons being unloaded, handful of other useful supplies for a start-up terrorist group as well.”

“Good work, I assume that means the basement is secure?”

He hesitated as he looked around, they covered almost the entire basement but found no sign of anyone.

“Not exactly… It’s odd we haven’t run into a single person down here.” His voice cut as he thought he saw a shadow move in front of him. It seems he wasn’t alone as Vadalia held up an open hand, bringing everyone to a disturbed halt. The sound of air brushing by them turned everyone’s head at once, the sound of rustling gear put everyone’s nerves on edge.

“Somethings not right, Amari we’ll need your brute force.”

“Shit alright I’m on my way.”

The lights around them began to flicker as a strange black mist began to form in front of them, it reminded him of a body trying to break free. At once he remembered where he’d seen this before, at the research facility in Berlin, the one Oxton called Reaper. Eventually the mist began to form a solid form, the flickering lights only aiding in obscuring its true form, though it’s gleaming bone-white masked contrasted to the blackness of the rest of it. Long razor liked claws reached into its coat pulling out the same unusual looking shotgun it used last time.

Its voice was like a growl, practically inhuman, though he wouldn’t lie that even despite its ridiculous get-up its words didn’t send shivers down his spine, “Scream for me.”


	18. When The Cat Comes Out to Play

**Basement of Talon Warehouse, Vladivostok, Russia**

“Scream for me…” Adrian involuntarily took a step back, despite his still-hasn’t-outgrown-his-emo-phase costume, he knew that this physical manifestation of the grim reaper was not something to take lightly. Thinking back on their first encounter he knew those shotguns could pack a punch, on top of that he had the bullshit ability to turn into a smokey mist seemingly negating damage; but he wasn’t entirely sure about that last part.

“H-holy shit it’s Reaper.” The Russian operative behind Vadalia gasped out.

“I’ll paint the room red with your blood.” The masked-man uttered as it turned it’s piercing gaze to the man, this world had a number of differences from his own but he’d had no reason to suspect that underneath that gear was anything other than some sort of human. Sure there was a talking ape that ran a global organization but that seemed to be an exception to the norm, and even then its just a monkey so he saw no reason why this costumed freak wouldn’t be more than a human.

“Bold words coming from a man in a Halloween costume, still got about a month until that happens you know.” Adrian sneered, slowly inching his way closer to Reaper, rather foolish it would seem considering his foe’s arsenal, but much of this room was corridors meaning it wouldn’t matter how far he was. Though there was one trick up his sleeve not that he was doing anything to hide it; his layered-titanium composite armor, it had withstood his shots before sure it hurt but it also meant he could afford to play it risky.

He could feel the adrenaline rushing under his body, the tension that builds in the moments before the action breaks out like an eruption, each step he took only exasperating that apprehension. Only briefly turning his head, just enough to catch her eye, he flicked with his left thumb forward towards Reaper, scarcely nodding her head she brought her index finger over the trigger of her assault rifle. There’s something about being a part of a squad like this that you can’t replicate anywhere else, a close-knit fireteam that’s served for years on mission after mission to the point where something that’s barely perceptible to the naked eye is a bold, screaming statement to anyone in that squad. Seeing Vadalia assume the fighting stance, the others followed suit, it seems like a small thing but in a situation like this there’s always an uncertainty with how to proceed, gone was the previous soldiers fear at seeing Reaper, instead replaced with a resolute dauntlessness to unleash hell. Adrian spoke his voice cool, careful not to betray his own inner chaos, “They call you Reaper…but I will make you bleed. You bring terror to those you kill and I will make sure to bring that terror to you.” Adrian darted forward with all his might, the single meter between himself and Reaper closed in what felt like an instantaneous moment with Reaper being momentarily stunned at the action.

Reaper had never seen such recklessness before, such a disregard for one’s own life it left him stunned for the briefest of moments, but a moment was all Adrian needed. With Reaper focusing on Adrian, the other’s opened fire unleashing a torrent of weapon’s fire into his ghastly form. Now with the distance between them closed, Adrian rammed into the gut of the robed man with all his might, smirking as he heard the man grunt as he landed on his back with a hefty thud. Wasting no time, Adrian fired his submachine gun directly into the prone form of the masked man, he wasn’t sure how many bullets found their mark before the body evaporated into smoke and darted to elsewhere in the room. He felt a vicious enjoyment swell up inside him as he saw the faintest droplets of blood lining the floor where Reaper once laid. They circled together, all they had to do was wait for Amari to-

“You’re going to have to fend him off on your own, Widowmaker is pinning us down, she’s already brought down two and there’s a Talon heavy squad coming in as reinforcements.”

He heard Vadalia swear under her breath, Adrian had no clue who this ‘Widowmaker’ was but if they were enough to give Amari pause then they were formidable. He just had to fucking jinx them, he gave shit to Barbie when they were dropping over Earth and here he was doing the same exact thing.

“We’ll flush him out, make him regret messing with us.” Vadalia said as they moved through the room with Adrian taking point once more, it was a welcomed show of confidence though it was mitigated by the still flickering lights. A blinding flash of light ahead of him followed by an ear-splitting boom sent Adrian tumbling backwards as the shotgun pellets clipped the side of his chest. The others opened fire as Baritone asked him if he was alright, waving him off Adrian peered around the room trying to spot the tell-tale mist as Reaper traveled. A muffled scream caused Adrian to snap his head behind him to see the cloaked Talon merc standing there, his clawed hand encasing the fourth member of their team as he lifted him off the ground. The tight corridors and close-knight grouping meant that there was no open shot on Reaper, he was essentially using the poor bastard as a shield. Reaper squeezed slightly, a faint cracking echoed in the narrow room, his razor-sharp gauntlet dragging across the man’s face only exacerbating the screams as he struggled to break free of Reaper’s iron grip.

Briefly his mind flirted with idea of firing through the soldier to get to Reaper, he was no stranger to difficult decisions that required some form of sacrifice, but to do so felt like a betrayal of his oath as an ODST. With disgusted resentment he held onto the idea as a last resort if he could he’d prefer to avoid putting down an ally, but if push came to shove he’d act to save as many lives as possible…one life could be forgiven if it saved more. In the end he’d waited to long, Reaper wasn’t here to escape he was here to kill them, but Adrian recognized his behavior it was similar to many lower ranking elites, he was just toying with them. Messing around with his prey before he decided to finish them off, there was no reason for him to take use a human shield other than added cruelty. Reaper crushed the soldier’s skull in his metal gauntlet before tossing the limp body to the side like a worthless piece of junk. The same as before they opened fire only for Reaper to dissipate into smoke as he blended in with the darkness of the basement, Baritone rushed over to the corpse briefly glancing over it before accepting the truth of his friend’s death.

Though not all was hopeless, an ODST’s VISR marked enemies, weapons, ammo, other items of interest, but most importantly it aided an ODST’s ability to adapt to any situation. It had the ability to absorb new information as it appeared – such as adapt to Reaper’s changing form – having had adequate time to process the additional data it now marked Reaper’s smoggy shape as an enemy. Essentially meaning that the bastard couldn’t escape now, wherever his misty body took him Adrian would know, his radar kept pinging with updates as Reaper traveled across the room the red-outline of his form flittering behind the weapon crates in the basement.

Motioning for the others to follow him, Adrian was now the one on the hunt, the one that would toy with his prey before granting it a slow and painful death. After navigating the labyrinth like underground they sure enough came across Reaper’s physical form as he came solidified, despite his masked face shock radiated from his form as he saw the trio practically waiting for him. Wasting little time, they opened fire to great effect, it seemed there was at least some sort of limit to how quickly he could change forms as he stumbled back from the heavy reign of bullets. Rolling over a crate behind him, Reaper blind fired his shotguns over the weapons box causing the trio to separate and take cover lest they be struck by his wild shots. 

The corner of the crate Adrian was hiding behind shattered, splintering into hundreds of pieces as shotgun rounds blew the crate apart. Dozens of assault rifles spilled out onto the ground, he shifted his back to take the brunt of the blast, he could feel the splinters bouncing off his backplate and Vadalia and Baritone popped out to pepper Reaper’s position with gunfire. Looking to the ground, he picked up one of the assault rifles and briefly looked it over, his M7S worked wonders against the average goon but a boost in firepower would be appreciated against this foe. It was a sleek design with a dark gray coloring similar to typical UNSC weapons, however unlike UNSC weapons it wasn’t as sharp, much smoother, and it lacked a bullpup design, instead the magazine was placed in the center of the rifle. The weight felt good in his hands, peering out from his shattered box he aimed through the crisp red-dot sight that adorned the top of it and held down the trigger. The recoil was easily manageable but most importantly the accuracy was solid, all his shots hit a tight grouping with a few nicking Reaper’s shoulder.

Ducking again behind the cover, he collected a handful of magazines from the ground for the assault rifle before peeking to lay down a heavy covering fire for Baritone and Vadalia to move up. Reaper caught on quickly to their plan as he tossed a flashbang over his cover, Adrian’s visor darkened completely with his audio feed muffling itself to protect him from the effects, the others however weren’t as lucky being momentarily stunned by the blast. Using this chance Reaper charged forward firing as he came, Baritone blasted backwards as a gaping whole burst from his chest, the shotgun rounds shredding his body and armor coating the immediate area in viscera and blood. Though he was unprepared for Adrian to be unaffected by the flashbang as Adrian tore into him with the assault rifle, a feral growl emanating from the masked man as he was forced to take cover. Heavy breathing could be heard, Reaper had seemed an ethereal being, but he was little more than a man with some fancy powers and this fight was taking its toll.

“New blood, you are interesting…more perceptive than most of those I face, you can follow me even when I become a wraith.” Reaper contemplated out loud, obviously trying to piece together how Adrian does it.

“Follow seems too kind a term, I’d prefer to say I can hunt you.”

“Hmm so it seems…” Adrian’s radar pinged as Reaper moved away from them, he was trying to escape.

“He’s leaving, we need to stop him.” He shouted to Vadalia, the last member of his squad as he ran after Reaper. Vaulting over crates he made his way to the stairwell, turning the last corner he saw the tail end of Reaper’s fluttering cloak disappear as he headed up the stairs, sliding over the final obstacle Adrian’s legs pounded up the stairs after him. As he burst into the main floor, sporadic gunfire could be heard around the room, presumably Amari and the others dealing with the heavy squad she had mentioned earlier. That situation would only be exacerbated by a sniper watching you’re every movement, preventing you from making any real advancements for fear of being capped by the marksmen.

Adrian’s radar pinged again; Reaper was making is way towards the northern exit where the sniper Widowmaker was supposedly located however it also seemed there were two heavy troopers in that direction pinning down Vickers and a couple of his squad. Taking off after Reaper, it wasn’t long for him to come across the two heavies pinning down Vickers, using the element of surprise he threw caution to the wind and ran straight into the fray. Not suspecting him to appear, they didn’t have time to bring their aim over to Adrian before he left off a burst into the leg of the first heavy soldier, his kneecap shattered as he went down on one leg as Adrian moved up closer. Not wasting a second Adrian moved the rifle’s aim from the merc’s knee to his head, finishing him off with a few shots at point plank range. That only left one more enemy, needing to buy a few seconds of distraction he heaved the assault rifle at the soldier causing the man to falter as Adrian charged the man like the initial encounter with Reaper. Tackling the merc to the ground, Adrian quickly drew his M6C/SOCOM from his hip and shoved it underneath the man’s chin before pulling the trigger. The man’s head rocked back with the force of the shot then it lulled to the side motionless as blood poured out of the gaping wound in his head.

Hoping that Reaper hadn’t yet escaped, he picked up the assault rifle before leaving a confused Vickers behind with a quick wave of his hand. As he barged outside into the dark rainy night, he frantically looked around only to catch a glimpse of Reaper’s smokey form crawling over the edge of a building. He briefly aimed at the retreating figure before lowering his gun, “Fucking dammit!” He swore to himself as the rain continued to pour.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gabriel Reyes huffed as he exited his wraith form, briefly stumbling to the ground as his body regenerated itself. The pain was immeasurable, the suffering constant, but it allowed him to survive the most dangerous attacks practically unscathed though that’s not to say he was invincible, far from it. Tonight was far more difficult than he imagined, he’d underestimated the new Overwatch member, his tactics, technology, personality were a far cry from what Overwatch normally used. One thing he knew for certain, that man had served in a manner much like himself…like Morrison…like Blackwatch, there was a hardness to his voice, to his actions, when he’d been taunting them by holding their friend hostage he noticed something, almost imperceptible. Where the other two had hesitated, stepped back in uncertainty, the new blood had inched forward, his finger laying upon the trigger, if he’d let time play its course he suspected the man would’ve eventually forgone saving his friend in favor of getting to him.

He smirked to himself as he stood up, his wounds having fully healed, perhaps there was some merit to the plan after all. His frown quickly fell as he realized that he’d get his ass chewed out for not following the plan anyway, he sighed as he heard the telltale metal clicking as Widowmaker made her way over to him.

“You were supposed to CONVINCE him to join our cause, not piss him off even more you fool.” She hissed at him.

“Jesus fuck I know, but thing got heated and you know I can’t resist a good fight. Besides what’d be the point of trying to bring em’ on anyway if he’d just be weak. Now we know he’s strong-”

“We’ve known he’s strong! It’s just you couldn’t seem to get it through your thick skull.”

He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from lashing out, “We’ll have next time.”

Widowmaker glared at him before turning away, “Fine, lets gets out of here before everything else goes to shit.” The two walked across the rooftops into the night, Doomfist would need to hear of their failure.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Police lights flashed in the dark, shining through each droplet of rain giving the whole scene a dystopian noir feel to it. It hadn’t taken long for police and civilian alike to gather around the building though any further trouble was saved by the timely intervention of Russian government officials. The plan had started well but the unwelcomed appearance of Reaper and Widowmaker and derailed the last half, dragging out what was supposed to be a quick operation, though as a whole it seemed that both sides involved considered it a success. Pleased at the results, the Russian government was more than happy to share the details of their cooperation with Overwatch so far, hoping for more ‘ _future endeavors that will lead for a safer tomorrow’_ a crock of shit Adrian thought to himself but it sounded nice to the average person. While he was fuzzy on the specifics, he had a general idea of Overwatch’s current situation, which was fucked to put it simply. So, despite his own cynical thoughts, he knew that as a whole it was what Overwatch or at least the ape had been hoping for, he wouldn’t shit on their parade with his thoughts.

A cigarette hung loosely from his lips as he rested against a wall a ways off from the bubbling commotion with Vickers. Something akin to his world’s Special Tactics Unit cleared the warehouse, hauling out crate after crate of illegal shit, it was honestly a bit amazing how much they’d managed to smuggle into the country. It was like they were trying to equip a small army with all the gear they had, it was enough to make an innie grow green with envy. In the end he’d decided to keep the assault rifle, he liked having a varied arsenal but here he was far more restricted, so he’d take the chance to build up his own armory at whatever chance he got.

“Well I can see why they let you into Overwatch.” Vickers spoke up, wisps of smoke coming from his mouth as he spoke, his cigarette held between his fingers. His balaclava pulled off his face hanging loosely around his face adorned with a faint smile.

“Huh? Oh…thanks I guess though I’d had my mind on other things.”

“Yeah like chasing the damn Reaper, were you out of your mind man? I’ve never seen such a brazenly suicidal act before.” Vickers chuckled to himself incredulously as if he still couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of his mouth.

Adrian refrained from saying that on a near weekly basis he dropped in a metal pod from low orbit down to a planet’s surface so chasing after a slightly weird cosplayer wasn’t that high on his list of near-death experience. “Eh what can I say, I _really_ didn’t like him.”

“Heh I can tell mate. Listen we know you keep to yourself, preferring to drink out than on base, but a couple of the guys are just begging to talk with you, what do you say you join us for a drink and shoot the shit when we get back?” Adrian mentally groaned at the thought of drinking again, still not over how blackout drunk he got last time, but as if reading his mind Vickers spoke up once more, “And if drinking ain’t your thing or maybe you just don’t feel like it well the bartender on base makes the best Shirley Temple I’ve ever had.”

“Shirley Temple – is that the one with the cherry on top?”

“Yep.”

“Fuck it I’m sold, loved those as a kid.” Adrian chuckled as he took a deep drag of his cigarette, sooner or later he’d have to socialize with the other people on base. It wasn’t like back home where he’d be changing ships over other mission with the only constant being his squad, here he was stuck with the same people day in and day out. Besides he knew he’d said it already, but he genuinely liked Vickers, so getting drinks with him wouldn’t be so bad.

They stood in amicable silence for a while longer, the rain was still pouring but not as heavy as it had ben earlier, now it was more akin to a refreshing drizzle than an overwhelming downpour. A whistle caught their attention, both turning their head they saw Amari standing down a ways waving them over. Pushing himself off the wall, Adrian took one final huff of his cigarette before tossing it on the wet asphalt and flattening it under the heel of his boot. Letting Vickers take the lead he followed a few steps behind him helmet in hand, enjoying the cool rain wash over his sweat covered face. Upon reaching Amari, Vickers gave a casual salute while Adrian stood lazily behind him.

“Dropships arriving in five, gather your things, do whatever needs to be done, and meet on the roof.”

“Little brash isn’t it Lieutenant? Full pick up in the middle of the city with public eyes seems a bit…overkill.”

She gave a shrug, smirking at his response, “You’re right about that but this comes from Winston, he wants a full display of Overwatch’s involvement.”

Adrian took his leave as the conversation continued, what Overwatch did or didn’t do wasn’t something he cared about all that much, he’d leave the two to talk. Though now he found himself without much to do, aimlessly wandering through the warehouse he figured he’d just wait on the roof enjoying the view when a voice barking orders caught his ear. It was the Junior Sergeant Vadalia, with little else to do he walked up to her as she gave commands to a handful of police and soldiers milling about the area. Sensing his approach, she turned to him, half surprised as his advance, unlike the hotel room where his focus was on the mission, he took the downtime to look over his ally. She had short black hair trimmed not much below her ears with dark eyes that seemed to absorb any light that passed her way.

“What can I do for you Lance Corporal?”

He looked out into the bustling group of soldiers and police clearing the warehouse, “I… You have my condolences for the loss of your mean. It’s never easy to loss men under your command.”

Her mouth turned to a slight frown as she nodded, “Firsthand experience?”

Ranks as an ODST were interesting to say the least, they didn’t matter as much in your squad than in the marines, likely because every ODST is experienced, you can trust without a doubt the others in your squad to be capable. Sure the leader of an ODST squad had complete authority and no one else in the group would try to usurp that, but among the other soldiers in his squad they were all equal despite differences in rank. For example, technically as Lance Corporal he outranked Barbie, Talos, and Wolfe, but he’d never pull rank on them and just as often on a mission he’d be following their lead. For instance, if it was a demo job well they want the best man to lead, so Wolfe as the demolitions expert takes the reigns for the duration of the mission. On top of that, when you became an ODST you lost whatever your previous rank was hence why rank was often ignored in the ODSTs. At the end of his time as a marine Adrian was a corporal leading a small fireteam, meanwhile Barbie was a Staff Sergeant leading a platoon, but when you join the ODSTs its drilled into your skull that what you were before doesn’t matter, it’s only what you do now as an ODST that counts.

Turning back the topic at hand he nodded at Vadalia’s question, he’d lost a handful of men on missions as a fireteam leader and it never got any easier. Whether it was one man or four it always hurt the same, knowing that you’d failed in your duties to protect them, of course he wasn’t so egotistically vain as to believe that it was his fault they’d died but as leader it was his duty to protect them as best he could but of course the Covenant made it hard to keep that promise of protection.

“Many times…more than I’d like to admit.” He spoke.

“It’s not my first-time losing soldiers under me…but well…I knew both of them well. We went to bootcamp together I’d just happened to get promoted first.” It seemed like there was more she’d wanted to say but Adrian didn’t press, he understood what she was feeling.

“Maybe we’ll meet again Junior Sergeant.”

“Perhaps, stay safe out there Lance Corporal, the worlds a dangerous place.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.” He gave a faint wave as she went back to barking orders, heading towards the stairwell he made his way to the top of the stairs where it opened up to the wide roof of the warehouse. It seemed he was still a bit early, the roof devoid of any life, he walked to an edge overlooking the city lights and sat down. It was quite the sight but his mind kept racing over the encounter with Reaper, sooner or later he was bound to run into that man again and even more likely was to run into more of Talon’s thugs such as that Widowmaker. He never saw her but it would only be a matter of time until they squared off, regardless he needed to be prepared to face off against them because he swore to himself that the next time they met, they wouldn’t be escaping.


	19. Phantom Memories

**Faro Province, Velas III, Sagai System**

**2548**

_The sound of an engine being pressed to its limits echoed through the narrow streets of the now abandoned city followed by sporadic shots of weapons fire and muffled yelling. At once the desolate streets came alive as a mongoose speed through them, a pair of ghosts hot on its tail. Upon the mongoose were two ODSTs, one drove focusing all his efforts on weaving through the roads filled with abandoned cars while the other ODST hung on for dear life on the back, a Covenant data pad in his hand._

_“Bloody fuck mate can’t you do anything about those ghosts?” The driver yelled, not taking his eyes from the road for a second._

_“Well you know I’m kind of busy trying to do our damn mission.” The other one replied, taping in a number of inputs pad, flinching every time a plasma bolt screamed by them._

_“Then hurry up would ya? I’m not keen of having my ass on a Covenant grill tonight.”_

_“Would you like a hand at magically decoding these Covenant glyphs Barbie? Oh right you’re probably fucking illiterate.”_

_“Piss off Marauder, just try to buy us a few seconds at least.”_

_Adrian sighed, his squad was his family but sometimes even with family you just wanted to strangle them though he couldn’t argue with Barbie, it was a miracle that they hadn’t been hit yet and he wasn’t looking to push his luck. Reaching behind him he pulled a M45 Tactical Shotgun off his back, focusing his aim on the nearest ghost he pulled the trigger but the shot went wide as Barbie was forced to pull a tight turn at the blocked road ahead of them._

_“Keep it steady…” Adrian muttered; Barbie responded with a grunt. Adrian took aim once more, despite his one-handed aim swaying he focused and fired, the immense burst sent his arm jerking upward. His aim was true however as the pellets tore through the ghost’s shell eviscerating the grunt piloting the vehicle. It swerved side to side before eventually nose-diving hard into the ground with a crash sending the grunt’s corpse flying forward like a torpedo. The last got slowed down putting more distance between them and itself, clearly not looking to repeat what had happened to his comrade giving him time to finish deciphering this Covenant data. What they needed exactly from it he wasn’t sure, but the mission was given directly from Vice Admiral Ferreira so there wasn’t exactly room to question their mission. Though the thoughts shared among himself and his brothers was that ONI was involved in some-way. It was a bit odd because ONI had their own ODST’s squads under them to undertake special missions, something he was frankly not envious of at all, but again its not like they had room to question._

_So here they were – well two of them anyway – the others were waiting back at their evac point aboard the pelican. Taking a quick glance over his shoulder at the distanced ghost, he finished up the decryption of the covvie tech, their use of glyphs was practically incomprehensible to him but his ODST training gave him a purely technical understanding of them. As the data pad unlocked, he hooked it up to a black box they’d been given by Vice Admiral Ferreira, again likely ONI but that’s beside the point._

_Giving a firm bump to Barbie’s back he spoke, “Alright we’re good, get us the hell out of here.”_

_“Finally, and here I thought you were supposed to be smart.” Barbie jabbed; Adrian smirked before refocusing his attention on the final ghost. Bringing out the shotgun once more, he fired twice, both shots hitting their mark but only doing minor damage, not enough to destroy it. As he readied the final shot, the ghost grew some balls, speeding up and unleashing a torrent of plasma fire. Barbie maneuver to avoid most of but a single bolt with the grace of the Covvie God’s hit his shotgun turning it into a molten metal stick. Dropping it with a swear, he looked around them as the road they were on opened up into a vast six-lane road, abandoned cars still littered the street but it was no longer a game of millisecond reactions to avoid death._

_An idea sprung into his mind, “Barbie when we pass that white truck slam the breaks, I want us to ride side-by-side with the ghost.”_

_“You absolute wombat, you’re yearning for death never ceases to amaze.” Despite his qualms he knew Barbie would do it as any other ODST would do for his brothers. As the white truck neared closer, Adrian braced himself for the inevitable whiplash. With a screeching of the tires he felt his whole-body lurch forward as the ghost passed them before snapping back as Barbie let his foot off the break and slammed on the gas. The grunt slowed down, confused at the turn of events making it even easier for them to pull up right beside it as they barreled down the wide street, Adrian slightly angled his body towards the ghost as they pulled up next to it. The grunt stared at them; its expression hidden behind its breathing mask but knowing grunts it was probably fear. Taking a deep breath, he jumped from the mongoose to the hood of the ghost, landing on it with a heavy grunt as he felt a bit of the wind knocked out of him. Looking up he saw the grunt frantically looking side to side, unsure of what to do now that a human had jumped on his craft, with one smooth motion Adrian grabbed onto the top of the ghost console and swung his body around the side of it with both his feet slamming into the grunt, sending it flying out of the driver seat. Quickly assuming control of the craft before it crashed, he looked towards Barbie sending him a thumbs up, the other man chuckled as he shook his head. They made good progress through the Covenant controlled city luckily avoiding any further conflict, they were almost to the city limits when a deep rumbling sound caught their attention. It was an unearthly sound, as if something was fundamentally broken in the machine, the tree line was visible in the distance and beyond that was their ticket out of there. Adrian boosted the ghost while Barbie once more pressed the mongoose to it’s limits, the closer they grew to the tree line the louder the rumbling got. Just before they left the city limits an explosion rung out to the side, and the cause of the rumbling made itself known._

_“Prowler on our three o’clock! We don’t have the ordinance to take that beast on!” Barbie yelled as he stared at the encroaching brute vehicle._

_“Lead it into the forest and try to lose it, if not we’ll get Wolfe to lay down some heavy fire.”_

_“Aye, will do.”_

_The prowler burst threw the column of cars like a warm knife through butter, the sound of plasma fire filled the air and the brute on the turret let loose. His guttural growl sending shiver down Adrian and Barbie’s spine. His ghost shook with every hit by the plasma bolts, looking around he could see electricity sparking from the exposed inner workings of his vehicle. Soon they made it into the forests surrounding the city, Adrian split left while Barbie went right with the hope they’d give up chase. No such luck existed for Adrian as he weaved through the trees, the sound of the Prowler’s roaring engines not far behind. Grudgingly he had to hand it to the Brute pilot, such a large vehicle would be unwieldy for most but between the plasma fire cutting down trees and the ape’s own disgustingly impressive navigation of the dense forest he was clearing the forest with ease. Over the comms he could hear Barbie laying out the plan to the others, grabbing a grenade from his hip he pulled the pin and tossed it behind him hoping to get a lucky shot. The grenade bounced off the ground, sending it skipping into the air before it exploded sending the shrapnel into the handful of Brutes on the Prowler. Though it only served to piss them off more, through the thick grouping of trees Adrian could see the Pelican in wait._

_“I see the pelican from your five o’clock, get ready these ape fuckers are looking to roast my ass!” Adrian yelled as he broke from the tree line into the clearing. Ahead he could see his squad in position ready to blast whatever chased him. The clearing also meant that the Brutes had a clear shot on Adrian, he felt his ghost wobble underneath him as plasma bolts riddled it. The ghost’s readout went dark as the power to it died; he slammed the console fruitlessly but braced himself for the inevitable crash. It spun out landing on one of its wings causing it to tumble out of control sending Adrian flying to the side. He rolled across the ground until he stopped on his back, looking up he could see the Prowler charging his way, sadistic grins planted upon the Brutes as they reveled in the thought of running him over._

_“Please don’t rush on my account guys…” Adrian muttered._

_“Ah we feel you’ve got everything in hand.” Wizard, their resident marksman, responded before letting loose a shot from his anti-material rifle. The bullet buried itself in the head of the Prowler pilot, his head exploding like a water balloon filled with red paint, the Brute’s limp corpse slumped to the side causing the Prowler to sputter out as it swerved off to the side. The other brutes yelled in anger at the sight of their dead companion but never got the chance to act on their fury as Wolfe let loose a SPNKR missile causing the whole thing to go in an explosion of fire._

_Adrian groaned standing up, “Cutting it close huh?”_

_“Well we thought about it but now you have a kick-ass story to tell, and without those cool stories you’d never get laid in the first place cause I mean you look the rugged handsomeness of me.” Wolfe spoke with feigned arrogance as he tossed the SPNKR into the pelican._

_“Hardy har you ass.”_

_“He’s got a point I mean you go up to some chick in a bar and say what, ‘Heh yeah I’m a glorified computer nerd, that turn you on?’” Talos spoke up. “Meanwhile I say I’m a field medic and I got pussy and cock coming up to me from all over, people love medics, tech geeks … not so much._

_“What the hell are you yapping on about? Like a couple of highschool girls gossiping in their god damn cliques, should I get you some nail polish while you’re at it?” Gunnery Sergeant Thorn yelled._

_“Well I think I chipped my nail gunny…” Barbie joked._

_“Just get in the god damn pelican.” He ordered as the squad hopped into the back of the pelican taking their seats, “Besides everyone knows leaders of highly decorated ODST squads score the most.” The troop bay roared with laughter, as Adrian looked around he knew that he’d be willing to die for any of his brothers as they’d no doubt do the same for him. He’d lost his family on Kholo but now he’d found a new family, one with which he could get his revenge against the Covenant every chance he got._

…

…

…

Now as Adrian looked around the troop bay of the Orca he realized just how different his life here was. Every time he thought he was becoming used to his absurd situation, finally getting his thoughts under control, he’d have a memory of what his life used to be…of what was happening back home while he was here still struggling to find a way back. Sometimes the weight of what he was carrying felt like it would crush him, the thought that they might be dying or already dead was something that threatened to crush his soul. He should be there with them, fighting with them, laughing with them, dying with them, but instead he was stuck here… if fate existed it could be inexplicably cruel. Of course he’d tell himself there was nothing else he could do, only wait, but that doesn’t make the feeling just disappear, it’s more like shelving the issue only to reappear at a later point.

He was saved from his own self-crippling thoughts when the comms in the Orca crackled to life as Winston’s voice filtered through the speakers, “Apologies everyone but I’m going to have to halt your return for now, it’s not a dire emergency but your position over Georgia means it’ll be easier reroute you then send a new team from Gibraltar.”

“You can spare us the logistics Winston, what’s going on?” Amari spoke up.

“Ah of course, well a couple days ago while you were still in Vladivostok, we sent Doctor Ziegler to Dadaab, Kenya, it’s been a key relief camp for decades and she’s been adamant in offering her services to help.”

Adrian’s eyebrows raised, Kenya was where this whole shitshow stared, he wasn’t sure where Dadaab was but if possible, maybe he could head to the area outside New- no…just Mombasa. Granted his talk with Winston had really put in perspective how fucked the whole situation with Slipspace technology was, so there was no guarantee for anything, he just needed to check and see if any of his squadmates were there.

“Now as for why you’re required, well the camp is far larger than anticipated and frankly it seems that those in-charge of the camp have been…remiss in their duties. While many are there to simply survive as best they can, there are some with more selfish goals in mind, there’s already been reports of missing medicine, fights breaking out over rationing, and word of a group seizing power for their own illicit means. While I’m not asking us to intervene in these affairs, Doctor Ziegler needs for support than was initially given, hence your role will be to help keep the peace. Any questions?”

At the silent response Winston continued, “Now Amari, you’ll be heading back to Gibraltar after dropping off the others, after our actions in Russia we had a wave of new recruits and we need some admission and discipline.”

“Understood sir, Vickers you’re in charge though I imagine it shouldn’t be too strenuous.” As the Winston’s voice cut from the comms, Vickers gave a firm nod of his ahead. If Adrian couldn’t get to Mombasa he’d still be able to ask around, see if there was any unusual activity going on while not detracting from his mission there of keeping the peace. With little to do for the remainder of the trip, Adrian turned towards gathering information about Dadaab. A quick conversation with Vickers told him that it was a refugee and relief camp established in the early nineties by the United Nations, who in turn also created Overwatch in response to the Omnic Crisis. However during the Crisis, funds were allocated away from foreign aid to the creation of Overwatch, and when the allegations came out of mismanagement, corruption, weapon trades, and more… well it was a huge hit to their reputation. So the money that was taken from foreign aid was never restored and now many of these UN camps have either handed the reigns over to local governments or in the case of Dadaab, have fallen into severe disrepair.

As the dropship pulled over the camp, the back hatch opened presenting Adrian with an ugly site, row upon row of white tents covering acres of open terrain. Equally intermingled with the tents were dilapidated concrete structures, some in worse repair than others, some just simply rubble on the ground. At his raised eyebrow Vickers elaborated that at some point a couple decades ago they had ruled to try to make it a more permanent location, so there were plans for a massive construction to be undertaken. However, it only made it about halfway before the Omnic Crisis hit, so now its resulted in look like a war-torn town instead of a relief camp. Adrian scoffed at the ineptitude of it all, these people were just trying to survive instead they kept getting dealt shit hand after shit hand. When the Orca landed, he could see Doctor Ziegler dressed in rolled up beige pants with a white button up shirt, her hair styled in its typical fashion, waiting for them as well as a few Overwatch soldiers standing around. A quick look around made it clear she’d at least been able to set up shop, a half-dozen gold and white tents surrounded them, while under those tents were several medical staff treating various patients. Walking out into the African sun, he could immediately feel the heat barring down upon his unprotected face, his helmet held loosely in his right hand. He could imagine the climate control in his armor shifting into overdrive to compensate for the searing heat, it was a luxury he never forgot to feel thankful for.

Doctor Zielger smiled as they began to walk off the craft, “Ah I hadn’t expected you so soon!”

“Well we we’re already back on our way from Russia, wasn’t much a detour to head here.” Amari spoke up, “You doing alright here Angela?”

Ziegler gave a half-hearted shrug in response, “It’s been turbulent, but I hope that with some extra help things will calm down.”

“I know that bringing in more soldiers isn’t what you hope for but sometimes a firm hand has to be taken.”

“I suppose so though it pains me to see it necessary.”

Amari gave her a warm smile, “Well I’ll have to cut this conversation short; I’m need back at Gibraltar but you’ll have half a dozen of my best men led Vickers and Kasporov. They’ll be available for whatever you need them for even if it falls outside their normal duties.”

“I appreciate the help; I’ll see you back at base Fareeha.” Ziegler waved as Amari boarded the Orca, its bay door closing as it took off back into the sky. It’d probably be a couple days until another dropship returned with more supplies but until then…they were practically on their own.

He turned his eyes from the dropship to Ziegler when he heard Vickers’s voice, “Where do you need us ma’am?”

She pondered on it for a brief second, “Hmm for now we’re doing quite well but I liked to keep it that way. Just walk around I suppose, make sure nobody tries to steal from someone else, deter them from causing mischief.”

He nodded, “Alright, we’ll keep everything organized.”

“One for thing though, please refrain from any severe action, we’re here to help people but they won’t trust us if we end up hurting more than we’re helping. I apologize if this is slower than what you’re used to but I don’t expect this to be a very exciting assignment.”

Vickers chuckled as did the rest of his squad, “Honestly? Our last assignment was plenty excitement enough for the week, we’ll take the reprieve.”

She smirked, “Don’t try to sound to relieved or I’ll give you something hard.”

They chuckled as Vickers led the squad to patrol the tents, leaving Adrian alone with Angela, “Anything you need from me Doc?”

“Hmm not that I can think of, though you can tell me about your last mission. Seems to be exciting and frankly I could use some excitement that doesn’t resolve around my medicine being stolen.”

“Heh alright, so there I was completely surrounded by Talon, they had at least fifty guys-” As soon as he saw Ziegler wasn’t buying into his tale of heroics he told her the real story, the tense city crawl, the assault on the warehouse, his encounter with Reaper and the Amari’s encounter with Widowmaker before they managed to escape. When he finished, she had drawn a furrowed brow across her face, her mind deep in thought.

“They’re stepping up again, for the past few months before your arrival they’d been oddly quiet, little to no activity from them but now it seems they’re resurfacing.” She mumbled to herself, before shaking it off, “That’s a discussion for another time however, for now we have to focus on helping the people here.”

They stood under one of the medical tents, staring out across the vast sea of white and gray, “On our way in here Vickers said something to me about this place looking more like a war-zone than a camp…and I gotta say I agree.”

She nodded solemnly, “Its disheartening, many of the people here are refugees fleeing from war ravaging their own countries. Here they had hoped to find a better life but are now instead stuck with this crumbling attempt at humanitarian aid, most of which have nowhere else to go.”

Adrian hesitated, unsure of how to approach the topic that Doctor Ziegler cared so much for, “Well… I suppose you can’t get bogged down in all the what-ifs outside your power, you’re here now striving for change…that means something right? Besides you managed to convince the big guy to go for this, shouldn’t be much harder to get him to go for some public speeches or what not right?”

“I suppose so.” She gave him a curious glance

“So use those times to talk about what’s going on, encourage people to make a difference, even if they donate for purely selfish reasons it’s still money going towards a good cause. Of course this is all outside what I know so maybe I’m just spitting out a bunch of naïve bullshit, but I think you should light a fire under there ass and see where that gets you.”

He wiped his hand against his perspiring forehead, the sweat near-instantaneously soaking through his fiber glovers, turning towards Ziegler he saw that she was doubled over trying and failing to suppress some laughter.

“I know it may have been a stupid idea but laughing seems a bit cruel don’t you think?”

“No please don’t take it the wrong way!” She said as she continued to chuckle, “It’s just that these lectures are always very stiff, prestigious events that while I’m always gracious to attend, have a certain air of pompous elitism. Just imaging you there with your matter-of-fact speech, telling to get off their _arsch_ and actually do something just seems…perfect.” Adrian still wasn’t sure what exactly she was getting at but seeing her laugh so freely brought a grin to his face, “Besides you’re very much a realistic pessimist, so hearing you say that something might be naïve was just a stark contrast. That aside I believe your right…if I want to see change here I need to strive for it beyond what I can do, be authoritative in what needs to be done.”

“Sounds like a plan worth following, though you should really work on an assertive glare, I thin that’ll really sell your plan if people are too scared to disagree.” They laughed together at the thought but a commotion tore them from their idle chatter. Looking towards the source of the clamor it seemed a quarrel had broken out; Adrian handed his helmet to Ziegler as he walked over to the dispute.

“Please remember what I told the others, we’re here to help so try to resolve it as peacefully as possible.” She called out after him, keeping an eye on what was happening. In the time she’d known Mr. Kasporov she grown to like him quite a lot. Despite the horrors he’d lived through he’d remained surprisingly thoughtful, there was a light-hearted humor that she believed would’ve been extinguished in most. As far as she was concerned, time spent with him was time she considered well spent, in fact when she realized it would be Adrian coming here she felt a childish sense of anticipation. Despite this she had to constantly remind herself that Adrian had lived a life far removed from the relatively peaceful world she knew. The things he experienced had hardened him to being ruthlessly efficient, the scene of him executing those Talon agents in Peru still haunted her dreams on occasion. While she trusted him to follow her orders, there was still a tinge of doubt in the back of her mind worrying over what brutally extreme act Adrian would do to ensure the peace…to make an example of.

He walked over to the commotion, his black boots thudding against the cracked dry dirt, as people saw his approach they wisely moved out of his way giving Adrian a clear view of the scene in front of him. A grown man with dark skin was struggling to rip a box of supplies out of the hands of a scrawny lighter-skinned child, it was more than just medical attention they were giving out here, water, food, vitamins, all in neat little care-packages like the one the boy was holding. The adult though more like an overgrown maggot had already consumed his rations and wanted more or perhaps hoped to profit on selling an extra. It disgusted him, taking every ounce of willpower to not simply rip the man away and toss him to the ground, instead he approached cautiously from the side.

“Listen, you want more rations you can wait till they hand more out, but stealing from a kid’s just fucked.”

The adult turned to stare at Adrian incredulously, his eyes practically bulging from his head, his accent was thick but understandable, “Me stealing from the kid?! He stole MY rations; I’m trying to get back what’s mine!”

Adrian blinked in surprise as the others gathered around nodded in support, well I guess that what I get for jumping to conclusions he thought to himself realizing he’d just made a complete ass of himself. “Listen kid if you really need these rations then we can work something out but stealing them is helping nobody.” The kid stared blankly at him.

“He doesn’t understand you, but I’ll make sure he understands this!” The older man yelled as he raised his fist, ready to bring it down upon the kid’s skull. Adrian caught the hand mid-air much to the surprise of both the kid and the man, “What the hell, this doesn’t concern you! You want to keep the peace, then just back away and let justice take care of itself.” Adrian’s grip held firm but inside his thoughts were tumultuous, beating a kid was just pathetic but intervening more might only serve to cause a bigger shitshow. If his job was to keep the peace while also trying to get the people to trust them…then what the fuck was the right course of action.

“I can’t let you just bludgeon a kid to death, just let him go and we’ll get you a new ration pack.”

“If we just let him go, he’ll never learn, anytime he wants something he’ll think he can just steal it because then the foreigners will intervene and it’ll all be okay.”

“Listen if the kid does it again, I’ll leave it all up to you, justice at the hands of the offended, but for now just let him go.” Adrian said with an exasperated sigh, if this is how all encounters would be then this posting would be far more involved than he thought. The man looked at Adrian before glaring at the kid before eventually letting go of the box, the kid fell backwards with a soft thud the ration box in hand. He wasted no time in shooting up and scurrying away as fast as his little feet would take him, the man cursed something under his breath before turning to Adrian, “Everyone’s trying to survive, kindness for a kid stealing isn’t something most of agree with. Be careful or you may find yourself with a target on your back.”

Adrian bristled, “Is that a threat?”

“Just a warning.” The man turned away getting back into the line leaving Adrian to wander back to Ziegler. His mind was racing with thoughts, everyone here was on a hair trigger – with fair reason – but the man was right to an extent, they’d be here for several days, maybe even a week. That’s a lot of time for one wrong move to piss a lot of people off, himself and the others were here to ensure the safety of Docotr Ziegler and the Overwatch medical team, getting too involved outside of that would only lead to further complications. The ape had mentioned something about a power struggle from which one man has risen, so far it seems as though he’s keeping to himself, but they’ll have to be on cautious regardless.

“You handled that well Mr. Kasporov!” She beamed.

“Eh just doing what I was told, but I think were past the formalities don’t you think? Mr. Kasporov just feels…uncomfortably formal.”

“Alright Adrian, only if you follow suite.”

“Sure thing Doc.” He grinned, but his mind still combing over the worst-case scenarios of their situation.

“Something on your mind?”

“Just…this whole situation…it feels like were on a power keg ready to burst.”

She nodded in understanding, “To parrot your words from earlier, I believe its best we simply focus on what we came here to do, if it doesn’t involve us directly than its best we stay out of it. Sure we’re helping but to these people we’re also strangers coming in to their homes, the las thing we need to do is meddle in their personal affairs.”

He nodded absent mindedly, this could turn into a complicated situation with a greater need for nuance than he possessed. Thinking to himself he chided himself for thinking it would be a simple assignment, it was anything but that. 


	20. So It Happens Again

War Chieftain Gongrukus braced against the helm of the Phantom as tore from the realm of slipspace into physical realm once more, the entire ship shuttering under the strained pressure. He snarled under his breath as he stared ahead of him as the ship visualized the outside area, it was barren, sand ridden plains laid ahead for miles covered with patches of red dirt. He supposed he should be thankful that they miraculously landed upon some sort of terrestrial world without inputting a destination solution, but his mind was too filled with rage to focus on any of that. The whole situation that led them here was a pathetic tale, fist Shipmaster Roj’Kaskan Vazamee had ordered them to retreat from the human assault as those filthy heretics had managed to inflict a grievous amount of damage on their fleet. Then as their ship _Breath of the Gods_ had entered slipspace, it seemed the damage had been too much, over-straining the ship causing it to break apart in the middle of the jump. It’d only been by the miraculous will of the Prophets that him and his crew had managed to board a Phantom just as the ship split in half, no thanks to the miserable leadership of the Sangheili. They would get their due soon enough, he could feel that truth deep in his bones and he yearned for the day he could see their pitiable race put in their place.

Shaking his mind of his thoughts he reigned in his anger, the Phantom was inevitably going to crash, the thrusters were fried and once that happened he’d have to find out where in the damned universe they were and if they could get in-touch with the rest of the fleet. Much as he despised to contact his loathsome shipmaster, they’d achieve nothing of notability trapped on this barren planet. As the ship nose-dived sharply into the ground, he could hear the lamentable squealing of the Unggoy and Kig-Yar as they were tossed around the ship’s hull like toys. Another snarl escaped his lips, it annoyed him to no end that such wasteful creatures had managed to escape the ship with him and his brethren. They had their uses in the Covenant as the Prophets saw fit, but to personally be with him in this ship had grated on his nerves to no end. As the ship rocked to a halt, he took a deep breath before turning to survey the damage of the ship and its crew. Walking into the troop-bay he saw two of his brothers standing straight, as if unfazed by the recent commotion, meanwhile the other two species were splayed out pitifully on the ground, luckily only a handful of Unggoy and Kig-Yar had made it aboard his phantom.

“Ooooh were doomed! DOOOOOMED!” An Unggoy squealed, he thought to crush the runt’s head himself, but his brother acted first, picking it up by his tiny skull before crushing it between his massive hand. Sending blueish blood splattering over the interior of the ship.

“Silence weaklings, the War Chieftain has no time for your cowardly acts.”

Gongrukus gave a feral smile to his brother, this is why they would surpass the Sangheili, their loyalty to each other knew no bounds. “Listen up, we’ve lost contact with the main fleet though I’m not sure if it’s because of damaged equipment or we’re out of range. You three, “he pointed to the trio Unggoy groggily standing up from the floor, “Check the equipment, I want it working by the beginning of this sun’s fall. They squeaked an affirmative.

“War Chieftain, I spotted a small cluster of primitive buildings a way off as we crashed, we should look into it. There may be a way to contact the fleet…or fresh meat.”

Gongrukus nodded in agreement, “Take two Unggoy and Kig-Yar to the cluster, see if theres anything useful.” He turned to the others, “The rest of you, form a perimeter and get to work on the ship, the less time we spend on this revolting planet the better.”

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

**Dadaab Relief Camp, Kenya, Africa**

The next few days passed similar to the first, a lot of intervene work, a lot of tense encounters, and no amicable progress on either side. Though Adrian couldn’t blame them, their lives were hard enough and as if God had decided to make so cruel joke as to make life even more miserable Kenya had been experiencing a severe drought for the past week. Rations were even more sought after sought after because the droughts meant that the little bit of local agriculture in the camp was slowly dying to the long cruel fate of dehydration. Adrian and Vickers had both agreed that it would be prudent to step up their presence if they stayed here much longer, those living in the camp were tolerable of Overwatch’s presence so long as they were seen as a benefit. However with the add on a drought and failing crops to a group of already people beaten down, well sooner or later some of them might decide to take matters into their own hands and claim the supplies for their own use. Angela had been torn, Adrian knew she wasn’t so naïve as to believe that everything was peachy, he knew that a more aggressive stance would be the exact opposite of what she wanted to establish here.

Under the blistering sun Adrian sat on the edge of his cot dressed in simple combat pants and a white sleeveless tee embroidered with he Overwatch symbol. In his hand rest his TACPAD, a handful of wires running out of it and into his ODST laying next to him on the cot. It’s the sand…all the god damn sand…he thought to himself bitterly. His suits climate control system had been sporadic the previous day, making the end of his patrol absolutely miserable in the Kenyan heat. Upon closer inspection when he’d returned to camp he’d found bits of sand within the wiring, a miracle in and off itself considering ODST suits were airtight, rated for trips out in the void of space. But that wasn’t the problem; the problem was of course fixing his suit so he won’t boil alive in his armor if he was sent out to patrol the very edge of camp. Grabbing the pack of cigarettes to his side, he flipped upon the cartoon only to see a handful left, it seemed he’d blown through them faster than he’d hoped. ‘No we’ll save them for later’ he told himself as he lit a cigarette regardless, refocusing his efforts on the TACPAD in his hands.

After a few more minutes of meddling he heard the faint whir of electricity running through his armor, he shook his fist in quiet success as a grin spread across his face. With silent relief he began to strip from the Overwatch gear and into his climate-controlled armor, halfway through this process the unmistakable sound of footsteps caught his attention. Looking up he spotted Doctor Ziegler waling towards him with a tablet in hand, a frown across her face that morphed into one of wry amusement as she caught sight of him.

“Am I interrupting something personal? There’s got to be a better place for this sort of thing.” She teased.

“Ah well you know, when the feeling hits it hits.” He shrugged with a mirthful expression, “SO what brings you to the outskirts of this fine camp Doc?”

“Well originally I had hoped you’d be willing to lend a hand to fix this _dumm_ piece of technology, but it seems you’ve got your hands full.” She vaguely gestured as he removed the sleeveless tee, his scarred body displayed for the world to see.

“I bet its sand…damn bits have gotten everywhere.” He mumbled to himself.

She silently stared on, looking over his scars once more though now with a medical curiosity rather than an empathetic horror. The wounds were insufferably cruel but also deeply fascinating to one with her background.

“I’m curious if you don’t mind…that wound on your left bicep. It doesn’t look like any typical scar caused by a weapon, alien or not. More like-”

“An animal? You’d be right, that’s unrelated to the Covenant that it did happen out on a mission.”

“Sounds like there’s a story to be told.” Angela said as she sat on the edge of his coy, leaving no room for discussion.

Pulling on the rest of his under suit, his mind thought back to the incident, “Lemme see…would’ve been four years ago or there about. Everything’s been such a blur in the war it gets hard to keep track of the passage of time. Anyway I can’t remember why we were there, something about a supply line maybe? Though what hasn’t faded from my mind was the scenery, there was this constant haze in the upper atmosphere of the planet so it always lent the sky this pinkish-red hue but that’s doing it a disservice, I’ve yet to see anything quite like it. The plants were this vivid rainbow array of life, and when most of my time in the service was spent in a variety of foxholes on some barren shithole it was like…finding a needle I the haystack.”

Adrian lazily zipped up the from of his under suit as his mind drifted fully to the memory. “Despite that stunning beauty the animals were some of the meanest fuckers I ever met, don’t think I met a single peaceful one while I was there. Even the small furry ones had teeth like a meat grinder. Getting back to the original point of this story, we’d been there about three days trekking through some jungle when we we’re taking five by this strange looking creek, wasn’t water but some sickly white liquid. I popped off for a quick nap when the radar starts going crazy, this entire pack of wolf sized creatures with these freakishly long jaws, pass right by us like we’re not there. Once they pass, we think we’re in the clear but then a few stranglers that got left behind stumble right into our camp, they’re obviously spooked at some intruders, so they go wild. I swear it was like a snap of the fingers and all of a sudden, they’re charging like lightning bolts, blink of an eye and he was right in front of me.

“I raise my arm out of instinct as it’s jaws clamp down on the titanium plate, it can’t even leave a scratch but these things were bigger than Gracchus wolves-” He looked to see an amused albeit clearly unsure expression on her face. “ _Proklinat_ , uhh just imagine like…really big wolves that weighs a bit over two-hundred pounds. So even though his teeth can’t pierce the armor you’ve still got weighty alien creature comin’ at you at top speed. So it knocks me to the ground but I’ve got it’s neck in a firm lock between my arms but these fuckers are feisty like you wouldn’t believe. My teammates are busy trying to deal with the others, so I’m left wrestling this big mutant dog, putting two and two together it’s not hard to see where this story goes. Ends up biting through a weak point in my armor where the titanium didn’t cover, it had these wicked spiked teeth which was a double-edged sword. On one hand it made patching up the wound a real pain, but on the flip side it’d couldn’t its jaw back out from the nano-mesh under suit of my gear. We’re still wresting on the ground except now it’s panicking because it can’t free it’s mouth, so using it’s trapped jaw I twist my left arm as hard as I could until I heard it’s neck crack.” He said nonchalantly as he focused back on his armor.

“That was quite the story! Though I’ll admit I was quite taken with the description of the planet more than the action.” She said as she thought back to the vividly beautiful description Adrian had given.

“Yeah it was something, seen a lot of interesting planets in my travel, from absolute wastelands to unimaginable mountaintops, but none ever quite seemed to top that planet. For the life of me I can’t remember what it was called, but it’d be nice to see it again…” His voice trailed off before he shook his head. “Anyway Doc, let’s see that tablet of yours.”

Angela handed it off to Adrian, as he began to fiddle with it her mind wandered to the current situation. It’d gone surprisingly well since the reinforcements came, they hadn’t had any more cases of theft or issues with distribution, it seemed the added presence was enough of a deterrent for any would-be thieves or troublemakers. Adrian had also handled the assignment well she hummed to herself, she’d expressed reservations simply because of his background but he’d done remarkably well, it probably also helped that there had been no major conflicts, but she digressed. Her thoughts were interrupted at the sound of Adrian’s voice as he handed the tablet back.

“Plans for today Doc?”

“Nothing different than usual, though I’ve thought about traveling deeper into the camp, we’re on the outskirts and there might be many who can’t travel the distance.”

Adrian opened his mouth to respond before he could hear the comms from his helmet blasting, quickly snatching it up he donned his helmet.

“Kasporov here, what’s all the chatter about?”

“Bok from the patrol team, we caught sight of…something just fucking appears in mid-air. No clue what it is, looks like its going to land outside the grid near Zeta 3-7.” Depolarizing his faceplate, he shot Angela a look of confusion before the voice continued, “Weirdly enough it seems to be leaving a trail of some purple smoke? What the hell is this?”

Adrian’s muscles tensed, “Say again, did you say purple smoke?”

“Affirmative, should that mean something?”

Ignoring the question as Adrian scanned the clear skies, he could vaguely see a smoke trail to the East. As his helmet’s visual feed zoomed in his fear’s became realized, he barely caught a glimpse before it disappeared from his view, but the sleek insectoid shape was burned into his mind. It was a phantom, a god damn phantom of all things had crashed here, it could be a small squad of Grunts or an entire war-party of Brutes, there was no telling what kind of hell that phantom could unleash.

Adrian opened a new comm line, “Vickers, get all your men back to the camp, ignore the patrols and stay the fuck away from the crash site.”

“The hell’s going on man? It’s probably just some old junker satellite, maybe some failed Omnic tech.”

“Just trust me, I’ll fill you in alter but right now we need to fortify the position.”

Silence filled the comms for a few seconds, “Alright…I’ll bring them in but you better have a damn good explanation.”

Turning he saw Angela had stood up, hard eyes looking at him, “What’s happening Adrian? Is it…the Covenant?”

He nodded, “It’s not just one this time…there’s no telling how many there are this time but…the Covenant are on Earth.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He shifted his body with a groan, his body had been genetically enhanced a number of times but it didn’t take away the toll of old age. If he’d had this power in his prime, then many things would be different but the past was set in stone, all he could do now was atone for the failures that flourished under him. His sharp red visor reflected the afternoon sun as he laid perched upon a cliff face outside of the relief camp, he hadn’t planned on spend his time observing his former colleague but when he’d caught wind of the new member making an appearance well he couldn’t resist. He’d tried and largely succeed to put his past behind him, but old habits died hard and he’d instead taken to being a vigilante. Not exactly what he imagined for himself in his later years but he needed justice, not just for himself…but for all of them…he didn’t think he could ever fully be himself again. Rather it always seemed he was just a shell of who he used to be, he hadn’t even heard his name in what felt like an eternity instead he went by the moniker of Solider 76, a fitting title he supposed but in his mind it only reflected his disconnect from the Old Overwatch.

Back to the topic at hand, he’d always kept an ear to the ground, had connections throughout the world, some more willing than others, but when you operate alone it’s foolish to go into anything blind. When he’d heard of a commotion at Gibraltar he’d assumed to the worst, a Talon attack, betrayal, perhaps the final nail in Overwatch’s coffin, instead what he heard was an increased Overwatch presence. Bolder than they’d been in years, obviously his interest in such a matter was piqued, but he’d had his own trails to follow so his interest had taken a backseat to his own work hunting an arms dealer only known as ‘The Barbarian’. His next stop was going to be Russia when it seemed Overwatch had beat him to it, aligning themselves with a national power was a big step up from their largely covert operations. It was also the first time he’d really this new member, sprinklings of this mysterious character had permeated his channels, a man in the blackest armor that was brutally cold, as if he’d be a better fit for Talon than Overwatch.

Using some of his channels to the fullest, pressing his force where many didn’t want it gave him some vital information, that Doctor Angela Ziegler would be helping in this relief camp. The more he could find out about this mysterious new character the better, especially if this ‘brutal’ figure had ties to Talon. After waiting for her arrival, he was disappointed to find her alone though not entirely unexpected; though after a cruel stroke of luck caused some medical crates to go missing reinforcements were brought in, most crucially was the dark-clad man.

Now here he was, waiting and observing until he heard a sound unlike anything he’d ever heard caught his attention. Looking around he saw a strange object shoot forth from some kind of portal, it was a dark purple with strange smoke billowing out, even without the faintest clue what it was he could tell it wasn’t going to be airborne long. Scanning once more back to the camp, he could see the man in black frantically pacing, seemingly issuing orders…so it seemed the mysterious new comer knew the newest arrival. Everything was becoming much more complicated.


	21. Nostalgic Horror

**Outskirts of Dadaab Relief Camp, Kenya, Africa**

The wind howled past Adrian as he crouched down on one knee, his visor zoomed to the max taking in the imminent threat that would soon reach the camp. The Covenant scouting party was currently investigating some abandoned buildings far off to the East, for now it would buy him a couple minutes to think of a strategy. It was unlikely this was the entire group hence his hesitation, especially when he spied the lumbering form of a god damn brute. There could be just one or two back at the ship, or maybe an entire war band following not far behind, too many unknowns and too little firepower for a blind assault but it wasn’t looking like they had many other options. Currently Doctor Ziegler was radioing Winston advising him on the situation, fat load of good that would do be that wasn’t important. He brought Vickers back to the camp, obviously questions would be raised opening a whole new can of worms, but that would be an issue for later. If he got desperate, he could bring them in but the shock of seeing a foreign creature would probably overwhelm most of the Overwatch squad stationed here. So for now it seemed he was on he was on his own he thought to himself as he stood up, pulling the battle rifle off his back as he hoped off the roof he had been using as a vantage point.

Landing with a muffled thud his mind wandered to his squad once more, they’d faced worse odds together and look he was alive if slightly worse for wear. Standing on the outskirts of the camp he rolled his neck, a series of cracks sounding out into the empty air, despite the shitty situation he found himself in there was a silver lining; he’d been longing to crack some Covenant heads ever since the encounter with the elite and well grunts and jackals were always easy prey. His enjoyment at the thought was tempered by the brute, while they’re dumb ape bastards he couldn’t deny they were strong, especially when they went berserk and gave into their primal rage. At that point it seems they lose any inhibition, can’t even feel pain making them a real threat, so if he wanted to have a chance of living he’d have keep the brute in the forefront of his thoughts.

A faint humming sound behind him caught him by surprise, turning with his rifle raised he was surprised to see the good doctor speeding closer to him decked out in her armor, the wings seemingly working overtime. Lowering his gun, he depolarized his visor giving her an incredulous stare.

“Doc…shouldn’t you be back at the camp?” He questioned as he snuck a peak behind him, seeing no sign of the covvie scouting party making any progress.

“They’ll be fine without me for a bit, but you’re facing an immediate danger. I wouldn’t be a very good doctor if I don’t help you to the best of my abilities.” She quickly responded landing on her feet with graceful practice.

“I appreciate the sentiment, but the Covenant won’t leave a chance for me to be healed so your efforts are gonna be in vain. Besides they won’t care much that you’re a medic, if anything they’ll try to take you out first.”

“I may despise violence but I’m not helpless.” She responded sharply as she pulled a small pistol from her hip, “If necessary, it’ll do the job. More importantly my abilities are just as much preemptive aid as it is for post-injury, using my Caduceus staff I can give your body a much-needed boost. It will essentially push your body into overdrive, meaning you’ll be able to go beyond what you could normally do.”

“Huh,” Adrian mulled that new information over, it’d definitely allow him to take more a beating; he still wouldn’t want to be reckless with the brute but the knowledge that he wasn’t completely vulnerable was a reassuring though, “Alright much appreciated Doc. Now if you want to help…I think I’ve got a plan. In the scouting party is one big guy with four smaller ones, I’m going to take on the big guy, but I don’t want to leave myself open to the smaller ones. With your wings, you can cover a lotta distance in a short time, so using your blaster there just skim the edges of their vision and pelt them. Don’t have to do much damage, just keep them occupied, they’re small and generally pretty pathetic in small groups so if you just keep them busy with some blind-fire they shouldn’t be much of a threat to either of us.”

She gave a firm nod, “It will be done.”

“Alright good, stay a few meters behind me and whenever you get a chance hit me with that damn fancy staff of yours, I think we got this is hand, the second half we can worry over later.”

As Adrian took point the old building came clearly into view and with that the covvie scouting party having just started to leave the derelict structure. Even from this distance he could here they’re foreign tongue speaking, the only recognizable phrase was when the brute pushed past the grunts and jackals yelling, “IMP!” in its guttural tone.

Quickly raising his battle rifle, he left off a quick trio of bursts, the first two sending the grunts down with clean shots to their tiny skulls. Their heads popping like neon-blue balloons, the final burst harmlessly bounced off the brute’s leg armor. The jackals popped their vibrant shields in front of them, their shots going wide as Adrian began to run towards the trio of aliens. Adrian’s body began to take on a tingling feeling, looking behind him he saw a golden strand connecting him to Ziegler’s staff. His body felt…incredible, like he could take on anything, opening fire at the brute’s center of mass it let out a guttural roar. Its feral teeth sticking out like a predator asserting dominance, out of the corner of his eye he saw Ziegler fly ahead to the side drawing the jackal’s fire as she laid down her own weapons fire. It was just him and he swore he could feel the brute smirking as he neared it, his legs pounding against the dry ground, instead of returning fire it reached behind it’s body pulling out a small handheld item. It tossed it against the African soil before it exploded outwards in a show of light, encasing the brute and the area around out in a golden shield.

“Shit, bubble shield.” Adrian swore as he slowed his run as he got close enough to see the spit dripping from its beastly mouth. It snarled, this time Adrian knew it was smiling, hoping to draw him in for a close quarter fight where it could rip him in half, but he wasn’t looking to die so foolishly.

“Hey ya big ugly bastard, hiding behind a shield pretty pathetic ain’t it? I mean I guess you do what you gotta do when you’re so fucking cowardly, hell those fucking dead grunts were probably more of a threat than you’ll ever be.” He shouted at it; the brute narrowed its eyes as it stared him down before it shifted its gaze to the bubble shield projector on the ground. “Christ no wonder the prophets chose the elite’s over you, at least the elites know how to fight!”

That was the final straw, it stomped the projector underneath it’s metal boot as it screamed for blood, unslinging a brute shot from it’s back it leveled it at Adrian’s body. As it fired it’s first shot Adrian rolled out of the way, the ground where he once was exploded sending dust and sand scattering in the wind. Not leaving it time to level another shot, he hauled his body around the brute taking shots at its armored head with every chance he got. It grew wise to his running and instead aimed ahead of him, when the next _thunk_ of the brute shot sounded off he was sent stumbling background as the ground before up blew up in a spray of metal fragments and dirt. He heard it chuckle as he rolled backwards across the ground, but not looking to be caught exposed he turned his backwards roll into a crouch as he shouldered his rifle. Unleashing a barrage of bullets at its head, the heavy impact of the rounds causing it to stumble backwards in rage. Reaching behind him for a grenade, his hand brushed over a much smoother sphere reminding him of the two plasma grenades he’d gotten off the elite. Holding the dark blue ball in his hand, he pressed the button on-top before sending it with ease towards the enraged brute, through either unimaginable luck or one-in-a-lifetime skill it stuck the ape on it’s helmet. With frantic chaos it ripped the helmet from its head tossing it out towards Adrian, the helmet stuck grenade exploding in mid-air in a thunderous clap of crackling plasma.

Adrian instinctively raised his arm to shield him as he turned away from the bright blast, turning back to face the brute he saw it vaulting over the small wall surrounding the derelict building before ducking behind the crumbling house. Standing up he could hear the Doc still keeping the jackals busy, turning to see he saw that she’d already killed one but the second had backed itself into a small rise in the land making it near impossible for Angela to get a clean shot. Holding his BR in his left hand, he drew his pistol from his hip unleashing a quick barrage of bullets towards the jackal’s position. In the split second it broke it’s position to see the second enemy, Ziegler zipped around in her angelic armor she quickly popped a shot in the back of its head causing it to crumple to the ground like a sack of concrete.

Landing down next to him he gestures with his head to the lone building, “Doc how do you feel about a touch a danger?”

“What’s life without some excitement?” She replied with a humor tone.

“Swing around to the left, get it’s attention but watch out for the brute shot, it’s a very dangerous grenade launcher. I’m going to sneak around from the right, try to get the drop on it but if it drops down on all fours then get the fuck away. When it goes berserk you don’t want to be anywhere near it.”

As she began to head to the left, Adrian swapped magazines as he ducked around the corner. He could hear its barbaric grunting as it spoke to presumably whoever was back at the crashed in phantom. Its conversation stopped as Angela opened fire with her pistol, it grunted in anger as it let loose the resounding _thump_ from its brute shot. Peaking the corner, he saw Angela zigzagging back and forth doing well to avoid its fire as it put all it’s attention on her, eventually growing tired of the game of cat and mouse it had been playing. Years of first-hand experience told Adrian it was going berserk before it even threw down its weapon. Opening fire, it turned to face him as it got down on all fours, its eyes emanating pure murderous intent. It charged him like a bull hunting a matador, Adrian pressed the trigger as fast as he could aiming directly at the head of the brute, the hail of bullets shredding the skin from its face. The more he fired the more the ape turned into a creature taken straight from a nightmare, the leathery skin of it’s faced turned to bloody muscle before bits of its skull began to protrude from its face but still it charged headlong. Any semblance of pain gone from it’s being as the oversized monkey’s mind was focused on the sole goal of tearing Adrian limb from limb.

When it was just a foot away reaching out with it’s massive arms Adrian deftly sidestepped it’s reach, as the brute charged past him with reckless abandon he brought the stock of his BR-55 down upon the back of its head with a sickening crunch. The force of the impact only strengthened by the weight of his titanium-alloy forearm armor; the brute went down with a thunderous wallop. It wounds finally taking their toll as it pitifully tried to push itself up from the ground, Adrian placed the heel of his boot on the back of it’s send with a bone-crunching stomp sending it back to the ground. Without missing a beat Adrian brought his rifle to the back of its head letting out a double-tapped burst, an explosion of brains and blood erupting from its already battered skull. Letting out a breath he suddenly began to chuckle as the realization of the success dawned on him, looking down at the brute’s corpse he gave it swift kick to the head but immediately regretted the action as his boot sunk into the ape’s brain with a wet squelch.

“Even in death you’re a fucking pain in the ass.” He muttered as he flicked gray matter from his foot, splattering the already blood-soaked ground with more viscera. The crunch of dirt brought his attention to Doctor Ziegler, in the commotion he’d almost forgotten she was there.

“The other aliens did not give off the…feeling of genocidal creatures but this beast certainly fits the bill.” She comments with a rare tone of revulsion.

“Grunts and jackals aren’t too terrifying but can be deadly in their own right but ones like our pal the brute right here.” He gestured with his hands, “Are a real bane of our existence, quite literally.” He chuckled darkly.

“I would hope that would end the confrontation, but you mentioned they were only a scouting party. Do you know how many more to expect?”

“Not a clue, though it would be unusual to send out a scouting party that’s stronger than your main force. So, at the least I would expect the same but more than likely we can assume double the danger we met here.”

“Well that’s certainly not optimistic.”

“No…no it’s not.”

An orange blip on his radar appeared denoting an unknown, this head snapped up to the location but the house was blocking his view. If it was orange, it wasn’t Vickers nor would it be a covvie, a civilian that came wandering from the camp or something worse?

“We’ve got someone on approach.” He whispered to Ziegler as he instinctively pushed her behind himself, tracking the slow movements of the target. As it drew closer to the coming into view Adrian felt his body tense for another fight though he would later find his fears unneeded though not entirely unwarranted. With a controlled gait a tall, brawny man in black combat pants, a vibrant leather jacket, and most noticeably a crimson red visor stepped into view. Adrian tightened his index finger around the trigger but refrained from firing, he’d see how this played out before deciding on a course of action. For a moment they stood in strained silence as the empty winds whined past them kicking up dust and rusting the small flora scattered on the ground.

It was broken by the unknown man, his voice was rough and terse leaving little room for questions, “It’s been a while Angela.”

Silence followed in confusion before she began to piece the puzzle together, Adrian could hear a faint gasp escape her lips as she took a step back, “I…Jack? But we all thought-”. Lowering his rifle, looked the man over once more, questions raised about how they knew each other but also who this man was. Just by looking at him it was clear he was military, his stance screamed of being in the service as well as his analytical eye scanning over every deal showed he was special ops at least.

“Couldn’t be bothered to die when there’s still unfinished business.” He spoke as he looked the area, taking in the dead Covenant before settling on the brute by his feet.

“What are you doing here? Why wait until now to come back? Jack there’s so many questions we’ve had.” She stepped past Adrian, the previous surprise in her voice turning to faint anger.

“I enjoy a teary-eyed reunion as much as the next, but we’ve got a bigger problem on our hands. The pressing question now…are you with us or just here to waste our time?” Adrian spoke up, directing the latter part to this new arrival, Jack.

“I should be asking the same of you…I’ve heard how you handle a fight, not exactly what I’d call Overwatch material.”

Adrian took a step forward, “Need a personal demonstration old man?”

“Both of you knock it off, you’re acting like children. Adrian you just said it yourself we have a bigger problem to worry about, I’m sure Jack will be more than willing to cooperate later but for now we need to take care of these Covenant.” Angela stepped between them with a stern expression.

“Covenant? That what you call these freaks of nature?” Morrison grunted.

“Heh at least we got idea in common.” Adrian chuckled.

Angela sighed, “Yes it’s a long story, I’ll fill you in on the basics while Adrian can tell you how to fight them. If you’re here too Jack I feel we stand a good chance of beating them.”

“Alright…I’ll put down whatever stands in my way.” He spoke as he shouldered his pulse rifle. Adrian kept his thoughts to himself but agreed with her sentiment, the man seemed capable and there was something more to him than a superficial glance would reveal. Despite his bristling at the accusations he knew that a man like Jack could turn the tide of this battle to their favor.

As they began the trek towards the crashed phantom Angela gave Morrison a very brief overview of the situation, leaving out the parts about Adrian being from another universe deciding that it’d be best to handle that fact when Winston got involved. Every now and then Adrian would speak up to add some more pertinent facts, laying out the enemy behavior, what to expect from their arsenal, and how to best kill them. After they crested a small rise in the land the phantom became visible, it laid wreck in a small dip in the Earth seemingly pure luck that it managed to crash of all places into a hidden trough.

“There it is…a Type-52 Phantom along with all its crew. I spot two brutes, three grunts, and four jackals, Jack see the-”

“You’ll address me as Morrison.”

Adrian shot him a disbelieving glance before shaking his head, turning back to the phantom, “Alright…Morrison, you see the ape with the decorative gold plate? That’s a War Chieftain, by far the most dangerous not only because those brutes can rip your arm off without breaking a sweat, but they only become War Chieftain by proving themselves in vicious battle.”

“So not only is he strong but he’s experienced as well.”

“Exactly, and their armor’s nothing to fuck with either, it’s practically like trying to shoot through half a foot of pure steel. We’ll focus on the small ones then move onto the brutes, last bit of warning though, see those two jackals in the back with the glowing head gear? Those are jackal snipers, they’re bloodthirsty crack shots so if they even catch a whiff of you they’ll spit your head in between your eyes from a mile away.”

Morrison nodded, “I’ll make them regret stepping foot on Earth, they’ve got the advantage in power, numbers, and territory, doesn’t seem like there much in the way for a plan.”

“Figured we go in guns blazing, what could go wrong?” Adrian quipped back, “When we draw their attention go for the snipers first.” Morrison nodded back as they ducked behind the mound.

“Are neither of you going to mention how _dumm_ this plan is? Its utterly ridiculous, you have a better chance of killing yourselves than the enemy.” Adrian gave a half-hearted shrug while Jack simply ignored the comment instead deciding to start the assault. Swearing under his breath Adrian jumped over the mound leading into the dip in the land, he felt the loose dirt underneath his feet crumble out before him causing him to clumsily slide down the couple meter incline. Morrison had already put pressure on the smaller covvies, pushing the grunts and jackals back towards the phantom, his pulse rifle cutting down a grunt and a shield jackal.

Setting his battle rifle’s sight on the nearest sniper jackal he fired a controlled burst; the loose terrain caused his shot to slide the left but still blew the creature’s scrawny arm right off. It screeched in agony as it fruitlessly tried to cover up it’s bleeding stump. Turning towards the next jackal he fired again but aim went wide, causing the bullets to bounce off the phantom’s hull. The sniper jumped in surprise before dashing off to a different position. At the bottom of the incline Adrian opened fire on the remaining grunts while Morrison put down the last shield jackal with ease. The first grunt was riddled with bullets, causing it to slump over dead in a haze of neon-blue blood; the second grunt had it’s back facing Adrian when he opened fire. The bullets punctured its methane tank resulting in a small explosion, leaving only the lower torso of the grunt intact. He spied Morrison cracking the neck of the final sniper jackal before tossing its limp body aside like a discarded toy, even Arian had a mirthful chuckle at the brutality.

That just left the two brutes, turning to face them he saw they hadn’t even moved an inch since they’d made their presence known, it seems they couldn’t be bothered to help in the fight instead preferring to fight the enemy themselves.

“The brute on the left has a spiker, it has a moderate rate of fire but packs a powerful punch in the form of superheated metal spikes. The War Chieftain has a brute shot and what looks like a plasma rifle on it’s hit, just keep moving and don’t give them an opening.” Adrian spoke to Morrison as he opened fire on the Chieftain. It let out a guttural roar before charging Adrian while firing its brute shot. He rolled out of the way of the explosives, hoping to pull a similar move to the Chieftain as he did to the last brute. Sidestepping it’s charge he was about to bring his elbow down before a crushing blow to his ribs sent him flying towards the phantom. He rolled ass-over-head until he landed with a thud in the shadow of the crashed ship. Groaning he struggled to pick himself, looking up towards the Chieftain it seemed it wasn’t a complete moron, it’d seen through his plan and instead swung out with its fists to land a pulverizing strike. His ribs were definitely fractured if not outright broken, pulling out a small dose polypseudomorphine from his trauma kit, his stabbed it into an opening in his thigh sighing in relief as the pain in his chest resided to a dull soreness. On top of that he could feel Ziegler’s staff working its magic as the golden stream flowed into his body.

Looking back towards the fight it seemed that Morrison was having a tough fight against the brute, it’s spiker making it hard to get up close. Shifting his gaze towards the Chieftain he saw it stomp towards him, swearing to himself he saw his battle rifle sticking out of the sand where he’d been practically bitch-slapped. Pulling his M7S from his back-hip holster, he opened fire with small controlled bursts, the submachine stumbling the brute a bit but otherwise not having much effect. He’d need to aim for the head if he wanted a chance for his submachine gun to be effective. Taking measured steps towards the brute he kept up the barrage of small bursts, hoping to whittle down it’s armor or get a lucky shot. It opened up fire once more with the brute shot sending Adrian running to the side, as he circled around the Chieftain, he could see the other brute go down under a barrage of Morrison’s pulse rifle. Jack turned to Chieftain, with its focus entirely on Adrian it left it’s back open for assault, easting no time he opened fired with his pulse rifle. The brute stumbled forward, surprised from the rear assault as he turned to see his ally laying in the dirt, its dark red blood soaking the ground.

Finally seeing the opening as the brute turned to face Morrison, Adrian rushed it drawing his serrated blade from his sheath. Drawing near he slashed low, cutting deep into an opening on the back near its heel, thick dark blood gushed forth like a fountain. The brute roar as it fell to a knee, with the height difference balanced Adrian hoped on it’s back burrowing his knife deep into the side of its neck. He felt the beast shift beneath him as it stood up once more before he felt a hairy paw grip his shoulder before he was tossed from its back and into Morrison. Adrian felt the wind get knocked out of him as he hit Jack with a weighty thud. The pounding footsteps of as the Chieftain got nearer echoed in his helmet, the same massive hairy paw that had thrown him off now picked up from his wrist. It felt like his arm was going to pop out of its goddamn socket as he was held there dangling like an ornament, the Chieftain looked him over before snorting to itself.

“Well shit, “Adrian thought to himself, “This ain’t a great situation …” But his thoughts trailed off as he remembered that he got more than just plasma grenades from the elite. With his free hand he reached into a latched pocket on his hip, pulling out of it a slim silver object in the shape of a handle. Flicking the silver piece forward a cackling blue blade shot forth around his hand, the Chieftain narrowed its eyes in confusion. Adrian didn’t give it much time to think before he brought the energy sword slicing through the brute’s arm, severing it at the elbow. He fell to the ground landing in an unceremonious lump with the half of the brute’s arm landing next to him. It stumbled backwards in agony before it went berserk as it ripped it’s helmet off with it’s remaining arm. It stormed towards Adrian, but he narrowly missed, clumsily rolling out of the way as the pain from his ribs worsened. The brute turned around, huffing in fury before once more stampeding in a hope to bash him to bits. As it charged, Adrian stuck to his tried and true method and sidestepped the beast, except this time when it tried to swing outwards it swung with it’s severed limb, meaning that Adrian watched in amusement as a cauterized stub passed him by. Swinging low with the energy sword, he felt the blade cut cleanly through the brute’s leg causing it to fall flat on it’s face. It’s cleaved leg now laid smoking in the open land of Africa while the brute rolled onto it’s back now pointlessly trying to defeat its opponent. Adrian shambled over to the brute, his ribs flaring with every step, careful to stay out of its reach as all the memories he’d had of brutes came flooding back. Every time one of these bastards killed his squadmates, tore apart someone he knew, massacred a planet’s worth of people, feasted on the flesh of his family. The urge to drag out its death came to the forefront of his mind, the idea to make it suffer as long as possible seemed like such an enticing idea, but he threw the thoughts from his mind. His family…had they still been alive wouldn’t have wanted such pointlessly cruelty, such barbarism on his part, especially Chloe she would’ve never forgiven him.

He stared into the eyes of the ape, a frown gracing his lips, with a flick of his hand the sword cut through the brute’s neck sending the head rolling away towards its discarded helmet. Plopping down next to it’s corpse he looked to see Angela tending to Morrison, the white leather of his jacket growing a deep red. Turning back to the dead ape he stared at it for a while longer…it’s done…the Covenant came to Earth and for now they lost. He could take solace in that for now.


	22. Pressure

**North Eastern Plains, Kenya, Africa**

“Now you’re going to hear a crack followed by a bit of pain.”

“Yeah yeah just- Oh fucking christ!” Adrian swore, “I don’t even think that was dislocated in the first place.”

“Well as the nearest doctor I disagree.” Angela smirked as she helped Adrian gingerly stand up, after the fight when the adrenaline had long passed, he’d found his whole body was sore. Getting knocked back to the stone age by a brute punch was something he never hoped to experience again. Though if anything he’d consider himself lucky that he only caught a glancing blow, had the brute hit him straight on well it would be unlikely that he’d be anything more than a pile of mush. You often hear the phrase, ‘it looks worse than it feels’, which often times is straight bullshit, such as a time like this. Adrian looked down as his bare chest to see an awful purplish-black bruise covering half his chest, turning his stare to the helmet in his hands the reflection showed that his face was only slightly better. He didn’t take any direct hits to his rugged mug but well the Chieftain tossed him like a toy, it’d be more a surprise if there was somewhere that wasn’t bruised.

“Now I shouldn’t have to remind you but take it easy, I did what I could, but my staff isn’t a magical cure all. Your body is still going to need some time to naturally heal, so to make sure I don’t physically restrain you to the ground, keep away from anything that could aggravate the healing.”

“No problems from me Doc, I’ll be on my best behavior.” He chuckled before groaning in immediate regret. Turning from Angela he surveyed the area, none of them had been in a position to much of anything after the battle so everything was still as it was, the only difference was Morrison’s thorough investigating of everything Covenant. If anything he couldn’t fault the man for his thorough investigating though he’d be damned if the weapons ended up in any hands other than his. Speaking for the last hour since the battle, he’d been debating bringing the covvie weapons onto missions, on one hand they could prove immensely useful as demonstrated by the energy sword though his usage of it was fairly clumsy all things considered. That said it could give him an edge should he run into Reaper or any other of Talon’s main force, though his worry is that brining such foreign weaponry could warrant unnecessary attention. Those are thoughts for later though for now he had to turn his mind to how to get rid of these bodies…and the massive ship.

“Something on your mind Adrian?” Angela asked.

“Just thinking of what’s next, can’t have these bodies laying around for some poor bastard to stumble across. Still haven’t found the elite’s stash, but this is far worse and we can’t stuff all these corpses on the Orca otherwise we won’t have any room. It’ll be gruesome but we’ll have to break these bodies down somehow either by burning them or…”, Adrian turned his gaze towards the phantom.

“You’re going to blow up the ship aren’t you?” She remarked, she continued at Adrian’s perplexed expression, “It’s my job to understand people and I’d like to think I’ve started to understand you. Whenever something about destruction and force comes up you get this glint in your eyes.” A sly smile graced her lips.

“Well I guess I’m not the most complicated guy; the Covenant use a type of fusion reactor to power most of their ships and phantoms are no different. Stable in use but can easily be set off-balance or pushed over capacity, if that happens well it ain’t pretty. So if we stuff on these sacks of shit onto the ship, then destabilize the fusion reactor it should vaporize everything within a certain radius.”

“You’re sure there won’t be any danger to the people living a couple kilometers off?” She asked with hesitance.

“Certain, it’s dangerous but very localized, trust me I’ve seen enough of these bastards blow up to know.” Anything more he would say was cut off as a sharp whine pierced the sky, looking up above them a sleek, angled jet curved into view. It was a clean white with gold accenting it’s sharp angles, obviously Overwatch he figured it was a vehicle for rapid deployment of only one or two, far faster than the Orca at the expense of crew capacity. Its wings turned upwards allowing for a vertical landing, dust billowed in the jet propulsion as Adrian donned the top half of his armor, not eager for a repeat of the problem he’d just spent his morning fixing. Following behind Angela, Adrian walked towards the craft looking behind him in surprise to see that Morrison was holding his distance.

The cockpit hatch slid open as soon as the plane landed, the more Adrian looked at the vehicle the more it started to look like a bastardized fighter than anything else. Curious as he hadn’t seen such a craft at the outpost, especially since he didn’t take Overwatch for one to get into aerial conflicts but he shrugged it off as a relic of the past, the “old Overwatch” he’d heard people call it. Winston hoped out of the plane landing with a thud, worry etched onto his features as he scanned the area, not long after Winston he spied McCree climbing out of the plane with less grace than he’d expect of the cowboy.

“Has the problem been resolved? I brought McCree along incase things got dicey…but it seems that everything’s been…handled.” Winston spoke, his question drawing out as his eyes landed on the infamous form of Soldier 76, better known to him as Jack Morrison, his old friend.

Before Winston could speak Morrison interrupted him, “Listen I already got an earful from Angela, we can talk more back at the base but lookin’ around I see more pressing issues. Just what in the hell is happening?”

Winston stared at the man, still staring in disbelief before he cautiously regained his composure, “Ah uh yes…I’m sure Kasporov and Ziegler have given you a rough idea? Well it’s far-fetched but true…it seems there’s much to be done back at base for I fear you won’t believe me unless I show you the proof.”

“Try me.” He grunted with his coarse voice.

“These aliens are not from our Earth.”

“Well I figured that, I’m not an idiot.”

“No Jack, I mean they don’t exist in this universe. They’re not from here…and neither is Kasporov.”

With his face hidden behind the mask and visor it was impossible to tell exactly what was running through the man’s head, but with a story as seemingly outlandish as this it’s not hard to paint a mental picture of Morrison’s disbelief, though to the surprise of all disbelief was the farthest thing from his mind.

“One more added to the list of things to kill then.” He spoke rather nonchalantly.

“You’re not…you believe it like that? No questions? No denial?”

“Sure I’ve got questions, but denial? Hell I’ve already killed some of them, hard to think it’s absurd once you’re past killing. The kid’s a strange twist but you’ve got no reason to lie. Like you said, it seems we’ve got a lot to talk about back at base.”

Winston stood mouth agape, after seeing Morrison for the first time in…God knows how long he’d expected a resistance to coming back…but Jack seems to have already decided on his own.

As Adrian stood off to the side, looking on at the strange reunion he heard the jingle of McCree’s boots step up beside him.

“Hell of a thing ain’t it? Tho I s’ppose you don’t have much connection.” McCree spoke.

“I don’t, fact is I still don’t know who the hell this guy is.” Adrian said.

“Well he’s former Overwatch for one, but I assume you’d could at least put that together. The bigger thing is, he used to be our commander back when Overwatch was still a global organization.”

“No shit? Well he’s certainly got the people skills for that role.” He snarked.

“Heh you ain’t wrong. There were others before him, but mostly acting as a handler of sorts, when he was promoted to commander, Overwatch had undergone some massive growth and so he took on a more direct role in running us. Course then everything went to shit but that’s a different story, all you really need to know is he’s one hell of a leader.”

“High praise coming from you, though my opinion for you may have faltered after seeing you leave that jet.”

McCree shot him a mirthful glare, “At least I got enough braincells not to drop in a damn pod from space.”

Adrian chuckled, “At least I got enough beauty for the both of us, cause you sure as hell bring nothing to the table.” They let out a laugh together before Winston came over to question Adrian on the events that transpired. Though he figured he’d already heard everything from the Doc, Adrian answered the ape anyway, telling him of Vicker’s squad spotting the ship crashing from the sky. The initial encounter in the ruins not far from here, then the meeting with Morrison before finally ending up here for the final skirmish, Adrian even outlined his plan for disposing of the bodies.

“This ship…is there any way you can access it’s data? Maybe we can get more info on ruptures-” Winston rambled.

“I’m a tech specialist not a miracle worker, it took years to even begin to decrypt the Covenant language, there’s nothing a lone ODST is going to get from that ship other than some basic operations. Want me to fire some covvie guns? I can do that; need me to turn the ship on? I an also do that, though not for an actual understanding of what the those split-chins are writing or saying.”

Winston’s face dropped; disappointment evident. “I suppose I should’ve expected that, figured it was worth asking though.”

“Regardless, we need to dispose of these corpses, between my ribs and Morrison’s wounds neither of us can haul the bodies.” Adrian opened his arms to the mess of corpses laying about.

“Ah leave it to us! Though I hope you’ll allow me to watch over as you work no the ship, I must admit my curiosity is getting the best of me!”

Winston flashed a grin, his rugged teeth poking out causing Adrian to take an involuntary step back, the image of the Brute Chieftain flaunting its feral canines flashing in his mind.

“Yeah whatever.” Adrian said as Winston out towards the corpses in the ruins with McCree in tow, the latter complaining about being brought out for heavy lifting when he could’ve been sleeping. While those two handled the corpse clean up, Adrian began collecting their weapons, especially of interest to him was the Jackal’s beam rifle, though it’d be on limited ammo though he wondered if there was a way to recharge rifle to make it a more permanent staple of his arsenal. He remembered hearing that ONI had been able to recharge covvie weapons but that it was ridiculously impractical to use them as a common weapon. The futility wasn’t lost on him, it’d be a waste of resources to go out collecting plasma weapons when we were almost always on the run in the first place. Though seeing as how he wasn’t faced with his immediate extinction, having some vastly more powerful weapons could only help him, he hefted the rifle in his arms, his hands awkwardly gripping the handle before he found a comfortable position. Peering down the foreign sights a wave of odd familiarity washed over him as the peculiar scope filled his vision, a couple Covenant glyphs laid on the border.

Sighing as he moved the rifle from his sights, he looked around at the Earth he found himself on, with each day he spent here the dissonance of a foreign Earth becoming so familiar only grew stronger. Ignoring the thoughts, he went about collecting the discarded weapons, his mind falling into an easing catharsis at the simple task. As he neared the end of his simple task he saw McCree and Winston coming back carrying the small band of aliens, tossing the bodies onto the Phantom, Winston gave a hopeful grin towards Adrian. He sighed and motioned for the lumbering ape to follow him onto the Covenant ship as he dropped the weapons in a small pile. Stepping into the spacious interior he spied the body of one grunt near the cockpit, its head crushed with a splatter of blue blood behind it; Adrian snorted at the image of a Brute crushing the little bastard’s head. Walking into the strange cockpit, Adrian looked around before finding a dark screen in the far right of the center console, swiping his hand across it before inputting a series of memorized inputs he heard the hum of the ship turning on.

“Fascinating,” Winston whispered behind him, “Do you know what the glyphs you used mean? Or how this works?”

“No idea about the glyphs, we just learned what icons can be used for specific functions, not their actual meanings. As I told Ziegler earlier, it runs on some kinda fusion reactor though the specifics are beyond me.” Winston nodded before examining the rest of the console, his eyes glued to every aspect of the exotic ship. Adrian looked around the main console, before pressing a curved glyph at the top followed by two sharply angular glyphs on the bottom. The faint hum that resonated throughout the ship steadily grew in volume as Adrian put his left hand over a reflective panel to his side, slowly bringing one finger up the panel. When the sound of the reactor turned to an almost deafening roaring, he motioned for Winston to start leaving, “We got two minutes or so minutes until the reactor blows itself, maybe less considering the rough shape of the ship!” He shouted; Winston nodded as he headed out leaving Adrian alone in the cockpit. Moving his right hand to a circular icon with a jagged line in the center, he held his finger on it until it’s color changed to a deep crimson. Satisfied that the ship wouldn’t engage any countermeasures, he backed up a bit before turning to leave, giving a kick to the grunt’s corpse as he passed it seeing that the troop bay of the phantom was now stacked full of Covenant corpses. Stepping outside he saw that the others had already began to move out of the depression in the ground, following suit he stood on the edge as the sound of the phantom’s engine was quiet for a split-second before erupting in a burst of dark purple. Like an endless void was born from the hull of the ship, when the smoke died down there was barely anything left, the most noticeable difference was a half-sphere hole where the phantom once laid. The surface of the ground was lightly covered in a thin layer of glass, a sight all too familiar to Adrian.

“It’s a miracle that you all happened to be here, had these Covenant been left unchecked, there’s not telling how much damage they would’ve caused. I’m glad you’re apart of Overwatch’s future.” Winston praised.

Adrian turned to the ape, “Apart of Overwatch’s future? I don’t belong here, less so being in your grand plans for the future of this ragtag group.” He snarked, he knew Winston was trying to be positive but frankly after this latest encounter he was getting sick of the waiting for news about his actual universe, was there even any progress being made? “Why is any of this happening? Why the fuck am I here in this world, why not any other? Then these covvie bastards seem to follow me wherever I go, what if that’s the universes way of telling me to get back to where I belong.”

Winston looked at him in shock, not expecting the outburst, well more so not expecting it here of all places. He was no psychologist but based on the reports he read from Angela, Adrian was far from adapting to this world, cognitive dissonance is what she said he was experiencing from holding two conflicting thoughts in his mind. Winston was putting effort into Adrian’s trip back, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t selfishly grateful that Adrian had been such a boon to Overwatch.

Winston spoke up, “Well uhh…I don’t really have any answers to that other than chance I suppose. You see it’s a complicated process and it’ll take time-"

“Time is the one thing I don’t have; every second my brothers and sisters are dying by the hundreds yet here I am with my thumb up my ass running around the world playing hero. How long is this going to take?” Adrian growled, before Winston could answer he felt a hand on his shoulder slowly dragging him away, it was the Doc.

“Please Adrian, its going to take time but taking your anger out on Winston isn’t going to help anything. I know it must feel frustrating but there’s not much else that can be done, besides is your time spent here so awful?”

“Angela my Earth is dying, and that fucking ape is here congratulating me on doing my god damn job?”

Her face hardened, “He’s doing his best Adrian, don’t alienate those you’ve finally started to get close too.”

He turned to face her before sighing, “I’m just-”, his struggled to find the words before closing his mouth, simply shaking his head, and shrugging her hand off his shoulder. Walking to the brim of the trough he sat on the edge, staring at the tiny bits of wreckage left from the phantom, taking in the sun’s reflection off the glasses ground. It began to feel as if this world was tearing him apart, he didn’t belong here, shouldn’t be here… what a mess this turned out be. All he could do now was wait and hope that the ape figured everything out sooner rather than later.


	23. Prisoner of Your Dreams

**Watchpoint Gibraltar, Iberian Peninsula, Europe**

Adrian hopped out of the sleek jet’s secondary cockpit with a sack of covenant weapons slung over his shoulder. After his outburst at Winston he’d been relieved of his work at the relief camp, McCree would take his place for the final few days while he instead went back to Gibraltar with Winston. He supposed he could’ve refused, decided to stay at the camp until the end but…he’d just felt so damn tired of it all. He hadn’t really cared one way or the other, so it’d been agreed with his consent or lack thereof that he’d head back to the base. Looking around the landing pad the base had seemed quieter than usual, turning to Winston he voiced his question, startling the large ape.

“Place seems like a ghost town, where is everyone?”

“Most active personnel are out on assignment; we’re running a skeleton crew right now. Hopefully nothing major happens otherwise it won’t be pretty.”

Adrian nodded before turning to Winston, “Listen we need to be prepared for the worst. I’ll admit that I could’ve…phrased it better back in Africa but I meant what I said, I’m not going to be here for much longer but regardless it seems the universe is handing us one shit sandwich after another. The Covenant have had slipspace tech longer than I’ve been alive, longer than most of my families been alive, and I get that time doesn’t seem to matter but it’s weird that despite all of that…the Covenant have only started showing up after I landed here.”

Winston bobbed his head in thought, “Yes, now that I think about it the probability is extremely low, which of course doesn’t mean it’s impossible… but like you said…odd.”

“Who knows anything about what’s going on, maybe it is just some baffling cosmic coincidence that my worst nightmare follows me here, but that doesn’t matter. My point is that what does matter is that more can come, likely will come, and we need to be prepared. Your ace in the sleeve for the Covenant is me, and I’m just one guy, pretty damn good at what I do, but I digress. What happens when another covvie phantom crashes in a populated city but I’m halfway around the world? What happens if the nearest Overwatch squad is just a group of rookies? Nine times out of ten it’ll end in slaughter.”

Silence filled the air as the realization hit Winston, he’d known the Covenant were a serious threat, but he’d never given much thought to the worst possible potential. The last two encounters were pure luck, the first was highly isolated and the second was a miracle that Adrian and Ziegler were there. In the future they can’t rely on pure luck and hope that everything sorts itself out. Scanning the base, he saw the doubts that Adrian held but didn’t voice, that they were still a small-scale operation running on a lack of manpower. They only reason they’d lasted as long as they did was that they managed to recruit the best of the best, and while he’d always argue quality of quantity, the fact was they needed numbers just as much. A few missions and the base were practically cleared out, it seems he’d found his next project, bolstering the base’s forces.

Facing back towards Adrian he spoke, “I’ll look into it, it may slow down research into getting you home but you’re right. We don’t have the numbers or training if these covenant forces grow any larger, when the main core of Overwatch has returned, we’ll discuss options.” With that the ape left, there was a lot on his mind, and he’d need the time to sort it out.

Leaving Adrian alone, he started walking back to his room enticed with the thought of a steaming hot shower to wipe the grime from his skin. The door to his room slid, stepping through the door he tossed the sack of weapons onto the unused bed causing the stiff pristine bed to creek under the newfound weight. Stripping himself of his armor, he stepped naked into the swelteringly humid bathroom, stepping under the boiling rinse of the shower’s water he felt his muscles loosen. When he left the shower, he wasn’t sure how much timed he’d spent relishing under the stream of water, only that his skin was as pruned as his grandparents. Sitting on the bed he looked over towards the sack of weapons, unzipping the bag he pulled out the beam rifle, shouldering it against the bare skin of his shoulder. The foreign covenant metal sent goosebumps rocketing up his arms as it almost seemed to caress his body with its unusually smooth stock. It was strange when looking at anything made by the Covenant, its design always gave it the feeling of life, odd as it sounded. With the UNSC everything is very sharp, blocky, angular, made for purpose over style, built to withstand hell no Earth if it came to it but it was very clearly artificial. Then you look at the Covenant, they’re ships reminded him bugs really, like beetles you would find outside in your backyard, and they’re weapons seemed…oddly natural, impossible smooth in their design.

Looking through the bag he made a clear mental note that his thoughts didn’t apply to anything Brute made. Fitting for their name, their weapons looked like an angry toddler smashed together two of its toys with pure brute force. Putting the beam rifle back into the bag, he donned some lighter Overwatch combat gear and made his way to the weapon range, might as well get back into the groove of firing some foreign weapons while he had the downtime. Stepping into the large room, he could hear a couple gunshots resonating throughout the room, but that was too be expected, the base wasn’t empty, just light on personnel. Head to a stall against the farthest wall, he laid the bag on the ground while grabbing the beam rifle from the sack. Once more pressing the stock to his shoulder, he aimed down the foreign sights lining up the sharp reticle over the target, resting his finger over the ‘trigger’. A key difference in covvie weapons is that there often wasn’t any typical trigger to pull, instead it was more like a sensor built into the handle of the weapon that sensed pressure applied to the outside. So, while you could fire it like any human weapon, you’d just end up firing in the most inefficient way possible. Instead UNSC forces were trained more to almost flex your finger once it’s wrapped around the handle, so instead of pulling your finger each time for a shot, you tighten the muscles in your index finger and well…it’s pretty self-explanatory.

Flexing his index finger, the iconic _tsch_ of the rifle greeted his ears as it barely kicked, easily held in his grip. The core cycled in center gun as it readied another shot, Adrian aimed a little further to the left and let off another shot on the target. Clicking his tongue as the shot hit a little lower than he would’ve liked, he’d need a bit more practice before he felt as comfortable with these weapons as he did with hie battle rifle.

Preparing to fire another beam, he stopped when he heard a string of foreign words arise from a few stalls down. He spent enough time in the military to recognize a curse regardless of the language, especially when it held such venous rage as these did. Peaking out from his stall he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary before another string of curses graced the largely silent room. Leaving the beam rifle leaning against the wall, he began to walk down the row of pens, checking each one as he passed to see who’d had such a shit day. Eventually he came across an occupied stall, surprised to the young Hana Song filling it with her head held in her hands.

Clearing his throat, she turned in surprise, “Old man? What are you doing here?”

“I’m back from assignment, the real question is what are you doing here? I thought everyone was out on a mission.” He said as he leaned against the side of her stall.

“None of your business, just killing time.” She spoke sharply.

Adrian peered over her short form, spying a frankly pathetic display of accuracy with almost none of the bullets landing near their intended mark.

“Seems like somethings on your mind pipsqueak. You’re no marksmen but you’re aim is a hell of a lot better than what I’m seeing here.”

“I told you it’s none of your damn business!” She fumed as she stormed passed him, pushing past as she left the range. His eyes trailed after her with mild surprise, looking to the table at the front of the pen he saw her weapon lying there forgotten. Picking it up he holstered it on his hip before heading back to his own stall, he’d talk to her once she’d cooled her head but until then he had some time to kill. Picking up the beam rifle he resumed his practice until he was making consecutive shots on target, not wanting to waste it’s battery until he’d found a way to utilize its rechargeable ability.

Stuffing the rifle into the duffle bag, he hefted it over his shoulder as he walked back to the crew quarters. Pausing briefly outside Hana’s room he decided to instead pick up the TACPAD from his room first. Standing outside her door he questioned why he was even doing this in the first place, he wasn’t the one to console others, to hear them vent their issues, but for this kid he just felt compelled to do so. In the end he always came to the same conclusion, she just reminded him so much of Chloe, of who she would’ve been if she’d just had a few more years to live her life.

Rapping the door with his knuckles he spoke up, “Open up pipsqueak, you know this was gonna happen sooner or later.”

The unenthusiastic reply rang out, muffled behind the door, “Go away, I don’t need your oldness to ruin my room.”

“I’m not playing this game.” He muttered to himself, then raised his voice, “Athena, is Song doing anything I’m going to regret seeing fi I open this door right now.”

“No, she’s simply moping on her bed.” The slightly robotic voice rang out.

Shouts of protest rang out as the door whooshed open, giving Adrian the whole room view of Hana’s stereotypically teenage room. Filled to the brim with posters, several of herself he noted with amusement, the table that he used as a workshop in his room was instead holding a multi-monitor computer screen with a hefty console under the table. Not unlike the uniform she wore in the field, the room comprised of three colors, blue, white, but mostly dominated by pink. The owner of said room sat angrily in the center of her bed, legs crossed underneath her as she glared at the intruder.

He walked in standing a few feet from the bed, “Listen kid sooner or later you’ve gotta talk about what’s eating you. Otherwise you’ll only make life worse for yourself and those around you. If you don’t care about yourself, which I sincerely doubt, then at least think about how your attitude is going to affect the others, it may end up costing a mission.”

“I already have…” She mumbled looking away from him.

He moved closer, pulling the chair from the desk to sit in across from her, “What happened?”

“It was some big Talon guy or something in Singapore, I wasn’t really paying attention during the briefing.”

“You could start improving yourself by paying attention.” He quipped, her only response was a scowl before she continued.

“It was going like all the other missions ya’know? We were fighting them off, clearing out the base or whatever when the radio said that the Talon bigwig was making a run for it. Genji called pit that he’d had the guy in sights, but I’d been on a hot streak and was streaming so I had to make it entertaining for my fans. Ignoring them I winged a couple shots with my mech, but they went wide and instead of hitting the target I destroyed some neighboring property. I…I don’t think anyone died but they could’ve, and not only that but I let him escape! What good am I if I can’t even do the job I’m supposed to do. I don’t care about ‘ _everyone makes mistakes’_ because we’re supposed to be the best of the best right? The best don’t make mistakes, they adapt, and instead I messed up the whole plan.”

Adrian stayed silent a bit before speaking up, “Yeah it sounds like you fucked up, got too cocky for yourself and decided you could handle everything on your own, if you weren’t so lucky innocents could’ve died because of your arrogance.” Her eyes started welling up as he spoke, “I won’t say it’s fine cause it’s not… but there’s one thing that you don’t seem to realize that shows why you’re qualified for this – that shows why you’re apart of the best- because you know you fucked up.” She looked up at him, confusion etching her young features.

He continued, “You accepted responsibility, which is more than most would do, and I’ve seen a lot of people mess up. After pending thirteen years in the service I’ve seen a lot of shitty people in what is supposed to be the defenders of humanity. No one wants responsibility, its downright terrifying to know that people depend on you, that you’re responsible for your own actions. Especially in our line of work responsibility means more than just ourselves, we’re responsible for our comrades, for those we’re supposed to protect, and the prospect of having that weight on your shoulders isn’t easy. Its easier to pin the responsibilities on others so that if it goes to shit its not on you. Before I was an ODST, when I was still just a marine on the front lines, I knew a captain who treated responsibility like an easy whore. When his plan’s went well it was all showers, praise, and self-centered praise, but when his plans fucked up and led to the deaths of the best squad in the company? Well then it was no longer his problem, it was on the dead soldiers and how they weren’t cutout for their objective. You mentioned that the best don’t make mistakes, which just ain’t true, the reality is that the best don’t have room to make mistakes because one mistake and the missions ruined. But the best also take responsibility for their fuckups, that’s part of why their trusted to do the vital missions. You’re sitting here lamenting how you’re not sure if you’re worthy of being here because you failed but that thought process is exactly why you deserve to be here. You could’ve easily blamed your squad, blamed the civilians, blamed any number of things but instead you take the blame upon yourself.

“Most importantly Hana…you’re still just a kid, You’ve got a whole life to live, mistakes to make and learn from, hopefully your future mistakes won’t be as drastic but you shouldn’t be worrying about your self-worth when you’re barely old enough to drink. Leave that doubt for your mid-life crisis.” As the final words left his mouth, she let the tears flow freely, the emotions that had built up now bursting free. Adrian stood up awkwardly, stretching out an uncertain hand he placed it gently on her back not expecting her to take it as an invitation to embrace. She wrapped her arms around his waist as he cried into his stomach, with stiff movements he rubbed her back like he did with Chloe when she would cry, Briefly he wondered if the tactics for calming a six year old girl also applied to a nineteen year old. When he felt she’d let it all out he sat down on the bed next to her, the pink comforter contrasting sharply to his black combat pants.

“Hearing such kindness from you makes this all seem like a dream.” She joked, wiping a stray tear from her eye.

“Well even I can have my moments I suppose.” They sat in amiable silence for a few moments before Adrian pulled the TACPAD from his pocket. “You know…I had a younger sister, Chloe. See here she is.” He handed the TACPAD to Hana, on it’s screen showed a teenage boy with messy dark hair smiling broadly as he held a smaller girl on his shoulders. The girl had flowing black hair with deep brown eyes and deep dimples at the edge of her smile, light freckles coated her cheeks like a light cinnamon dusting. Adrian smiled at the memory, his lips wavering as he took the TACPAD back into his hands.

“Had? Oh…” She murmured.

“I was sixteen when I joined the military, hadn’t even finished highschool when I decided I wanted to serve. Didn’t tell my family because I was afraid they’d pull me out if they knew, looking back they probably would’ve and I think some part of me wishes they did. A few weeks later I’m in a space station when I hear the news over the radio that my planet’s been glassed from existence. The Covenant came in so quick that there was no time for any survivors to get off planet, it’s barely classified as a battle, more like a slaughter. The last time I’d talked to my sister was over a vid-call, she’d been bawling her eyes out wondering why I hadn’t told her I’d be leaving. Chloe was still so angry with me that we barely talked, my parents were disappointed but at least had calmed enough that we could talk.” He looked up at the ceiling, blinking away the inevitable, “I never got to tell Chloe how much she meant to me, how I joined because I’d wanted to protect her form the Covenant. Instead I left her crying wondering why her brother wasn’t there to protect her when the spooky aliens she heard about wiped the planet clean of humanity.

“Hell I don’t really understand why I’m telling you all this…part of me says it’s because you remind me of the spunk my little sister had, but another part is telling me that it’s because I don’t want you to end up on the same path I did. Live your life as a kid while you’ve still got the time.” His mouth felt dry as he finished his rambling, he’d just meant to talk to the kid to help her sort her own feelings out, instead he spilled his damn life story. “Well I don’t know how much of that actually matters but at least it sounded pretty profound right?” He chuckled.

She gave a faint smile as she turned to look at him, “I think I got what you were saying…so…thanks. It doesn’t feel as suffocating as it did before. Though maybe the big take away is that if I mess up again, I’ll have to listen to you talk for ages again, so that’s a reason not to mess up.” She jested as he stood up, patting her on the back he took his leave to let her sort out her own feelings. Walking outside looked up at the clear evening sky, putting a cigarette in his mouth patted his pants for a lighter, when he stuffed in his into his pockets his fingers brushed against a crumpled piece of paper and a metal box. Taking the lighter out with the paper, he lit his cigarette before unfolding the crumpled note, written in bold red ink was a number followed by a heart. Letting out a breath of smoke he looked around the desolate base before stuffing the paper back into his pocket and started walking towards the city of Gibraltar.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Adrian sat stretched out in a metal chair outside a small café, his head laid over the back of the chair while the short stub of a cigarette stuck out from his mouth. A familiar husky voice broke him out from his daydreaming.

“I’ll admit I wasn’t holding out for you to call again.” Bringing himself upright in the chair, he turned to see the woman from his drunken escapades standing across the table. Her short hair swept to the side as her skin glistened in the warm rays of the sun, she took the open seat as Adrian replied.

“And I wasn’t expecting to meet up at a café, seems it’s full of surprises for both of us.” He remarked as he noted that she had a different air around her today, granted he wouldn’t consider there last encounter a reliable benchmark.

“I was hungry.” She gave an indifferent shrug, “Besides I wanted to know more about you, the more I thought of your scars the more interested I became msiter…”

“Kasporov, Adrian Kasporov.” He said as he remembers the words she told on their last encounter, that she found his scars ‘ _exhilarating’._

“Edith Hansen.” She replied, Adrian found his guard rising the longer this conversation went on, maybe he was still just rattled from his earlier conversation, maybe the conversation did feel unnatural, he wasn’t sure.

With subtle movements Edith flicked the switch on a small box within her purse, nearly inaudible it began to whir as it activated, putting her full attention to Adrian she asked, “So what’s the story?”


	24. Turn That Heartbeat Over Again

**Talon Headquarters, San Polo Sestieri, Venice, Italy**

“Despite a recent bump in our operation in Singapore, it shouldn’t halt much of anything in our plan. The key instrument, who is simply referred to as Mr. Kim, escaped unharmed due in part to the arrogance of the child that Overwatch insists counting as part of their team. He’s being relocated as we speak to a much more secure area, unless something arises, we can wipe our hands of our involvement for now.” A haggard voice spoke.

“We were also told that the previous area was secure as well, what assurances will be made that the same thing doesn’t happen again?” A fired-up youth spoke, a few murmurs of agreement echoed throughout the room.

“A fair question so allow me to clarify. The buildings themselves are not really of any difference, the change is in how information is handled. Previously we had far too large a web of connections to handle with any real care, admittedly a careless effort on our part. Now we have a much smaller line of information, a risk to be sure as now information is far more reliant on singular entities, but I believe that if we utilize the best e have, there will be no breaches in the network.”

An older voice spoke up, a smoother tone to his words, “Rather are we looking for better men or more loyal men? I believe the latter should be the priority for it seems an inevitability that Overwatch will catch onto our actions soon enough, when that happens I would rather the agent not spill a single ounce of information.” Another round of agreements.

“Agreed, I’ll see to the necessary preparation. Before we adjourn this council, is there anything else of importance that needs to be brought up?” The haggard voice questioned.

Far from the back of the room someone spoke up, “How about the man in black? Wasn’t a pushover for Reaper and put down a heavy squad. What makes him dangerous is the lack of information, sure Reaper’s probably stronger than the dude one-on-one but we know nothing about him and from what the reports say, he doesn’t seem to be as morally obligated as the rest of Overwatch.”

“Don’t worry, we’ve already put some plans into action, we’ll know plenty soon enough.”

**Westside District, City of Gibraltar, Iberian Peninsula**

Morning light filtered through the window shades of the small room filled with the unrestrained sounds of an all-night fling; the glare of sun highlighting the glistening sweat soaked bodies currently occupying the room. Adrian grunted as he thrusted against Edith’s firm body from behind, a muffled moan escaping her lips as she buried her face into the pillow. Her nails digging into the mattress as she gripped the bed with all her strength, each thrust from Adrian sending another wave of pleasure through her body. As Adrian continued to drive his hips into Edith, he slowly ran his right hand from the top of her ass and up her back until it rested on the nape her neck. Moving his hand to the empty bed next to her head, he bent over plowing deeper while lightly biting the side of her neck, his free left hand worming it’s way underneath her, traveling down her chest to her groin. Her back arched under him as she let out another moan of ecstasy, Adrian felt his body let loose in sated relief as he finished.

They laid tangled for a few moments, catching their breath before Adrian moved back and off the bed, taking the used condom off now-becoming-flaccid member he tossed it into an empty bin next to the bed. Sitting on the edge of the sweat stained sheets, he grabbed one of two clear glasses of the bedside table, both filled with a warmly colored liquid.

Adrian downed his in one gulp, clicking his tongue once it was down the hatch, “Jesus that’s good, what the hell is mixed this rum?” He questioned, as he grabbed the second glass handing it off to Edith.

Looking up at him from his spot on the bed, she offered a coy smile as she took the drink, “Maybe I’ll tell you if we meet again.”

“If I means I get more of this, I might have you take you up on that offer.”

“Hopefully if we do meet up again, you’ll tell me more about yourself than you did last night.”

He offered his best attempt at a fake smile as he could while giving a nondescript shrug, he still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off last night, especially compared to how she was after their meet-up at the café, far more carefree. He mentally chastised himself for always thinking with his cock when a hot lady’s involved, should’ve left last night when he had the chance but this woman…this fucking Edith was something else. Though there was a hint of his own curiosity brimming to the surface of his thoughts, wondering what made him unsure of her, what she was hiding behind her façade. His body shivered as he felt a pair of fingers dancing on the side of his neck, like a duo of figure skaters gliding across the skin of his body.

“This is an interesting tattoo; I can’t say I’ve ever seen anything like it.” She voiced aloud.

Slightly craning to the left he found a nude reflection of himself, a large mirror covering the outside of a sliding closet door. Edith was resting her head against his back likewise staring into the mirror, her fingers idly outlining his ODST tattoo, but what caught his attention were her eyes. Focused, like needles drilling into his soul.

“Unit tattoo,” He lied, “So not surprised you haven’t seen it. You stick with a squad long enough you feel a need to show your bond.” Brushing her hand away from his neck he covered the tattoo as he stood up.

“Leaving so soon?”

“Not all of us have time to kill like you…speaking of which. What is it you do again?” He questioned as he threw on his pants, checking himself over in the mirror as he looked around for his shirt.

“I’m a freelance agent.” Edith replied.

“Freelance what though? You a writer? Reporter? Actor?”

“Whatever I’m hired to do, I’m like a jack of all trades for those who hire me.”

Adrian raised his brow before deciding he wouldn’t get any useful answers and focused on stepping into his boots. As he made his way to the door he looked back at Edith’s still bare form.

“So I guess if I find some free time I’ll give you another call.”

She gave a feral smirk, “Sure, or maybe I’ll take the initiative. We’ll see.” She whispered the final part as Adrian closed the door behind him. Waiting until she was sure he wouldn’t be coming back the grin dropped from her face, standing up she strutted over to the table in the rented room where her purse laid haphazardly tossed. Opening it up she grabbed the slim black box, placing it close to her ear a faint whirring sound could be heard, smiling once more she flicked it off. She liked Adrian well enough, though not for his personality, but well…she liked her job even more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time Adrian returned to the base, it was already late into the morning, the sun blasting down on him combined with the early Autumn humidity made it miserable to be outside. More so after the endorphin rush of a long night wore off, he could no longer ignore the soreness growing in his ribs. It wasn’t excruciatingly painful, more like an intense throbbing but he only had himself to blame for worsening the feeling. The base was slightly more bustling than the day before, but he still failed to see any familiar faces. A rumbling in his stomach stopped himself from wandering any further from the dining wing, doing a one-eighty on the heel of his foot he walked to a large of double-doors that opened into the main cliffside area of the base. Pushing through the doors he found it unsurprisingly light on personnel. Walking through the room, he loaded up a hefty plate’s worth of food before sitting at one of the many open tables. He’d barely bitten down on a piece of sausage when the clatter of a tray hitting the table sounded across from him.

Looking up he saw Hana taking a seat across from him a grin on her face, “Long night?”

He bit down on his sausage, continuing to eat instead of responding. Hana gave an exaggerated huff before chowing down as well, after an awkward few second she spoke up.

“You never finished helping me y’know.”

“Huh?”

“Before you got deployed, you we’re helping me. If you’ve got the time I wanna continue it.”

His chewing slowed as mind raced in recognition, “Ah shit your right kiddo, and you’re sure you want to keep doing this?” She nodded so he continued, “All right…okay sure. We’ll start right after we’re done eating; until my ribs are healed we’ll stick with weapons training, after that we can start some combat training. I don’t expect you to be some CQC master, but knowing some basic concepts will help if you’re ever without your mech.”

The rest of his meal passed with Hana talking his ear off about anything and everything, most of it revolved around current pop-culture and so escaped his understanding. When they finished eating he almost considered it a blessing, did all teenagers talk like the world was about to end? He wasn’t sure but welcomed the familiar sound of weapons fire as they entered the gun range. He started her off simply working on her stance, before she could work up to other weapons Adrian wanted to make sure she had the basic foundation down. Despite his initial thoughts that it would take a while to break her out of her habit, she learned quickly though that didn’t stop her from complaining about the odd feel of the stance. When he handed her his own pistol, it went just as smooth, after initially finding the bulkier pistol odd he found that she would easily settle in to using it. There would still be a lot of work to be done, but he was pleasantly surprised at how comfortably she was able to switch gears, she was adaptable.

Before he knew it, hours had passed, improvement had started to slow but that was to be expected, the greatest jump is always at the start. The more you practice the harder it becomes to make noticeable differences, but that’s the difference between being a good shot and being able to cap an elite one-hundred meters down range with confidence. He didn’t expect to see that in his time training her, not because he thought she lacked the talent – quite the contrary – but a practice range can only get you so far. The last bit before one can nail perfection is all about honing your skills in the field; a fact which he’d likely no see because he doubted he’d still be here when that happened, or at least hoped.

He skipped dinner that night opting instead to see if he could find anything about Edith Hansen, the idea had been gnawing at him most of the day, everything…well most everything…set him on edge. Granted he was basing this off of the one encounter they had at the café, still an ODST never doubted his gut. He’d be shaking a split-chins hand before he doubted his instincts. At some point during the night he passed out sitting at his desk, only waking when knocked over a pile of tech equipment off his desk.

The next several days passed in much the same way, most of his mid-day consisted of Hana’s training, if he wasn’t with her he was either looking into Edith with little success, or doing whatever exercises he could without straining his ribs. Eventually Overwatch personnel started to trickle in as day came and went, one of the first to return was Angela, McCree, and Vickers with his squad. Adrian had wondered what or rather how much Vickers had been told about the whole situation.

When he passed the man a few hours after he returned from Africa, he said to Adrian, “Fucking aliens man, what the hell’s next? Mole men from the underground? It’s been a long few days since I learned that, I need a drink.”

Adrian couldn’t help but empathize with the man, later when Vicker’s was properly sloshed to realize the existence of aliens Adrian would have a talk with him. For now though it was probably best to let him sort everything out on his own, Adrian still remembered his father telling him about the first time the Covenant became publicly known. Pure and utter disbelief his old man had said, it took everyone in their neighborhood at least a week to come to grips with the fact that not only did aliens exist, but they were here to murder all of humanity. He didn’t see anyone else until he was leaving the gun range with Hana later in the day.

“Hey you’re back!” Hana yelled in joy.

Following her line of sight, he saw Ziegler walking down the hallway the Valkyrie armor having been replaced with a standard doctor’s frock. Hana rushed forward leaving Adrian to trail behind, ahead he could see bright smiles adorning both their faces as Song spoke animatedly with the Doc.

As he neared the duo Angela looked up at him with a smile, “Good to see you Adrian! Hope you’ve been taking it easy with your injuries, though Hana tells me you’ve been training her?

“Just weapons training for now, he says he doesn’t want to strain his ribs, but I think it’s just because he’d getting old.” The younger girl teased. Shaking his head he gave the girl a light wallop to the back of her head to which she responded with a dirty look.

“Keep talking pipsqueak, besides why do you keep singling me out, Ziegler’s gotta have a few years on my at least right?” He joked.

“You have no manners, asking a woman her age? Geez now I know why you’re single.” Song scolded him; Angela broke out laughing as Adrian felt those words pierce his heart.

“Take it easy on him, its cruel to point out the obvious.” Angela spoke up between gasping laughs.

“Tag teaming the crippled war veteran, real classy.” Talking with them he realized he come to enjoy their company more than he thought, especially Angela’s. The time spent at base the past several days had felt empty, dull, but here right now there was a mirth he the air that he’d come to appreciate. Turning his gaze to Ziegler he felt his mind drawn to her carefree laugh, the warm smile that emanated from her at all points of the day, her sharp blue eyes, her- he stopped his train of thought. These thoughts were a mistake, he liked Angela…maybe…something else existed but he wouldn’t be here forever, let alone live to see old age if he got back to his world. Hana joked about relationship or lack thereof, but the fact was that most people you got close to back home died, so people tried to avoid any serious relationships. It was hard to attach yourself to others knowing that a stray plasma bolt would rip the skin from their face. Shaking his head of the intrusive thoughts he turned back to the duo of woman in front of him.

Hana looked at her watch, “Ah damn, I forgot I have a virtual interview! Bye Angela, see ya _oppa_.” She said as she sped off down the hallway, leaving Adrian and Angela standing in her dust.

Ziegler turned to Adrian with a grin, “It seems she’s really taken a liking to you, I know she was struggling with failing a mission but it seems whatever you said to her really picked her back up.”

He rubbed his neck uncertainty, “Eh I don’t know about that, she just…” He trailed off with a jumbled hand gesture.

She laughed, “I think you don’t give yourself enough credit, she called you _Oppa_ you know.” He shot her a confused look. “It means big brother, regardless I think you’re a good inspiration for her. She has a good family, but her between her work and her time at Overwatch she doesn’t seem them as much as she’d like I think.” Angela looked to where the kid had run off to, “Besides getting her some training is a good thing, she has a lot of potential but well…” She trailed off chuckling to herself.

“She’s still a kid.” He agreed.

Any further conversation was cut off as Athena announced that Adrian was requested in Winston’s lab. Shooting Ziegler a confused glance he made his way towards the lab giving her a small wave as he left. Upon entering the lab, he saw it was in more disarray than usual, stacks of paper littered the room with dozens of folders spread out across the tables with Winston studying one in particular.

“What do you need?” Adrian questioned.

Looking up from the file in his hand, Winston spoke with excitement, “Good you’re here! Listen after our talk I started really looking into some potential members, I’m always on the lookout but really narrowed my search to those who could help round out our forces. So I spent the last few days sending out inquiries, looking at previous records, and well…I think I found a few perfect additions.”

“Alright…but what’s this have to do with me?”

“These newest additions are brilliant, all very creative minds with some unusual creations under their belt. I’ve had my eyes on them for a while, but I think they could help with getting you back home. A fresh set of eyes might be just what we need, especially with technology that we’ve never delt with before.” Winston rambled as he handed Adrian a file.

He flipped through it, his brow scrunching in doubt, “Really? You’re shitting me right? You expect me to place my trust in them?”

Winston handwaved his concerns away, “Trust me I know what you’re thinking but they’ll be an invaluable asset, beside we can’t be picky we who we choose. You want to go home right?”

Adrian wanted to argue, looking back to the folder in his hand he sighed in defeat, “Yeah…I just can’t believe that my apparent return is going to rely on a musician and a fucking kid.”


	25. Deference for Darkness

**Seoul, South Korea, Asia**

Adrian walked through the bustling streets filled with people, glass buildings towered around him as neon nights reflected off their crystal shells. The city was a bustling metropolis with tens of millions of people, it’d given him an odd sense of placement in the world as he passed by so many people on the way to live their lives. He’d seen bigger cities back home, absolutely sprawling megacities larger than one could fathom but every one of those massive cities would be damn near empty. Abandoned like a ghost town, the day he left Kholo was the last day he ever saw a bustling society like this, his missions never took him deep into the heart of the UNSC territory so his squad ended up seeing more ruin than life. If he was on leave the cities were more akin to Gibraltar, small towns that lacked the busy city life on the inner colonies. 

“Stop staring you’ll look like a tourist.” Hana said as she waved her hand in from of his face, “I assumed you’d had big cities too or whatever.”

“Bigger…they’re just usually empty.” He spoke as he focused his mind back on their mission, “So give me a refresher, we’re here to find a musician?”

“Not just any musician, Lucio!” She happily replied, “He’s practically the biggest music star around.”

Adrian turned his gaze to the third member of their group, the bubbly Brit, “Don’t look as me mate, I’m more into the classics but I have heard of him.” She shot him a smile, “He’s big with the youth.”

Shaking his head, he voiced his bewilderment at this mission, “And how does this help us at all? He’s musician great, how does that help us?”

“Weren’t you paying attention to the briefing?” Oxton scolded, “Anyways Lucio may be a musician but he’s also one of the most creative minds around, he makes some of the most innovative tech around though most of it is for his own use. Having him as an ally would be useful”

“Exactly! Besides as Winston said we can get information on Mr. Kim while we’re here.” Hana spoke up from the head.

Right, Adrian remembered as he thought back to the briefing. Lucio was preforming in South Korea, but more than that Winston had picked up on a lead that may point Overwatch to ‘Mr. Kim’, the Talon agent that Hana failed to capture. Oxton and himself were brought onto the mission as being relatively innocuous, McCree would stand out far too much and the rest of Overwatch either looked like they were early to Halloween or had been pumping steroids half of their life. Hana was brought along as more or less a local guide, having spent a large portion of her life in Seoul she’d be able to help them find there way around as well as acting as a local translator. Though on a more personal level Adrian thought she was here to make amends for her previous failure. So here they were, walking through the heart of Seoul to find the prodigal musician that would help him get home. Though if he thought he felt naked without his armor before then this was a whole new feeling of vulnerability, he wasn’t even allowed to bring a weapon with him as they had to come in through mostly legal means to avoid suspicion. Winston had smuggled them in some small bits of gear, but with Korea’s strict travel security it would comprise the mission if they carried around unnecessary shit. If things got dicey well, he’d just have to improvise.

“Pipsqueak I’ve been meaning to ask, what’s with your getup? You get some restraining orders filed on you?” Adrian questioned; she wore a wide sunhat that started to flop down at the sides as well as dark pair of aviators all on top of a hefty surgical mask. To most it probably wouldn’t seem out of place, but Hana was the opposite of trying to hide her appearance, usually she was trying to be as bold as possible.

“I don’t want my fans to know I’m here, it’ll compromise the mission, geez you can be dense.”

“Oh right your streaming…so you think your famous enough to jeopardize the missions?” He scoffed in disbelief.

“She’s not wrong, she’s a bloody global phenomenon. Not like Lucio but she’s got her own level of fame.” Oxton spoke up.

“No way, you’re shitting me, and you’re also a public member of Overwatch. Is no one else seeing the problems with this?” He questioned; he knew she streamed as well as had a habit of letting her words fly but he never expected this. As if to mock him, a large virtual billboard flashed a giant image of some sort of drink followed by the unmistakable image of Hana in her mech suit. “What the hell.”

“Don’t worry about it _oppa,_ leave everything to me and you can worry about not straining your back.” He brushed off her remarks and resumed taking in the sights, it was a change from the usual areas he’d been sent, Vladivostok he barely saw any of, so at the very least he was appreciated the lack of a tense atmosphere. Before he knew it they had arrived at Lucio’s location, as they walked through the doors he thought the use of venue gave it an air of aggrandizement when in reality, it was a large albeit spartan room with minimal decorations and a long bar lining the side, a club to be more precise though he was just being pedantic at this point. Walking through the building there were only a small handful of people, though they didn’t seem to be patrons, rather they seemed to be part of the crew to set up the show. Lights were being strung up, stereos tested, wires crossed with some holographic tech, no one even passed them a glance as they walked to the back and up some stairs. On the second floor a door marked with the words “ _Lucio Correia dos Santos_ ” blocked their path; Hana gave it an excited knock. On the other side muffled conversation could be heard before the door opened, a thin young man stood in the entrance with short blonde hair, he didn’t seem like the musician but looks could be deceiving Adrian thought to himself.

“Can I help you?” He asked, his face impassive.

“We need to talk to you about your talents.” Adrian spoke up.

The thin man quirked an eyebrow at Adrian before turning his gaze to his companions, “If you’re going to waste my time please leave.”

“No no, my friend here is confused, we’re here to see Lucio, it’s important.” Hana quickly explained to cover up Adrian’s ignorance.

“I’m sorry but we don’t just hand out invitations to any eager fans, if you wish to see him, you’ll have to wait.” The man said as he began to close the door before a voice rang out from the room.

“It’s fine Andrew please, it would be hypocritical of me to spread my messages of love and freedom if I then denied those same people happiness no? An early meeting won’t hurt, please invite them in.”

The thin man gave a resigned sigh as he opened the door, stepping back as Hana and Oxton made their way in first with Adrian following behind. Looking around it was a simple room, but quite large, it seemed this room doubled as both his pre-show prep room and his sleeping quarters. Clothes littered a sizeable bed in the corner as well as several instruments, a large window filled almost the entirety of the left wall giving a clear view of the surrounding area. Though it wasn’t much of a view as several tower buildings blocked any real sightseeing. Sitting in the center of the room upon a table strumming lightly at a guitar was a dark skinned with a set of thick dreadlocks tied up. Just based off a glance Adrian could tell the man carried a similar enthusiastic attitude to Oxton, almost scarily positive and he shuttered internally unsure if he could handle that amount of constant unbridled optimism and energy.

“So what can I do for you today? An autograph maybe or a picture together?” Lucio said as he tuned his guitar.

Oxton spoke up first, “Sorry mate but we’re not here as fans, or at least not all of us.” She said as she took a glance at Hana who seemed she was one word away from bursting with excitement.

Lucio looked up at those words, uncertainty crossing his features as he looked at the trio, “So what’s your purpose then? If you’re from Vishkar then don’t bother wasting your beath, I won’t bow down to you slave drivers.”

“We’re not with Vishkar, we want your help.” Oxton explained.

“Help with what? And whose ‘we’? I assume its more than you three.”

“We’re with Overwatch, we’ve been looking for the best of the best to help and we think you could help bring change to the world.” She continued, at the mentioned of Overwatch his demeanor changed to more of surprise.

“Overwatch? Here? I thought you’d disbanded; I saw some news out of Russia about a New Overwatch but I thought that was just false hope.”

“We’re back alright but we need help.”

“Help with what?”

Adrian walked up, fishing out a series of folded papers from his pocket and handing them to Lucio. The man looked it over, scoffing in joy as he read the data.

“This is…wild! I’ve never seen anything like this before, and this is real?”

“Real as it gets.” Adrian spoke, “We’ve hit a roadblock in turning the data into a physical device for practical use. Given your propensity for creative assembly, it seemed you’d be able to bring in an outside perspective.”

Lucio was speechless as he flipped through the papers, not only was he asked to join up with his heroes, a group who could bring the change he’d been trying to do for so long, but on a more selfish level the chance to work with such exiting technology and data was tantalizing.

“I’m…I’m speechless but…I gotta be able to finish out my tour, there’s so many people that I want to inspire with my music that if I can just reach them I might be able to make a difference.”

Oxton smiled brightly, “Of course! We’re not here to force you, consider it a formal invitation that you can choose to take up at any time.”

“Though sooner rather than later.” Adrian butted in, earning a glare from Oxton. Lucio nodded as he handed back the papers to Adrian who promptly stuffed them in his pockets.

Turning to Oxton he spoke up, “We’ve got Lucio, now what about this lead? What have we got to go on?”

“According to Winston, we had a contact here that was supposed to message Winston with a place and time, but we’ve heard nothing from this bloke. So for now it seems we’re dead in the water.”

“Fucking great.”

Lucio stepped in, “I can offer my help, small as it may be. I’ve traveled quite a lot building up quite a network of contacts, if you’re looking for something I can put in a few calls and see if anything’s made any noise.”

Adrian looked at Lena, she gave a shrug and replied, “It can’t hurt, no reason not to at least try.”

Lucio nodded pulling out a phone, “I’ll see what I can dig up before my show.”

As he turned away the trio felt their comms crackle to life with Winston’s voice, “ _Aha! We’ve made contact with well…the contact, he wants to meet outside the Seoul Arts Center as soon as possible.”_ Winston relayed.

Oxton and Adrian turned to Hana looking for her input, “The arts center?! That’s on the Southern end of the city, it could take us at least half-an-hour to get there!”

“Alright we’re on it.” Lena replied to Winston. “Adrian stay here with Lucio; we’ll check out the contact.”

“The hell? Why do I have to stay, why not leave the kid or hell leave anyone at all?”

“She knows the city, besides with Talon I’d rather not take any chances. Sometimes it feels like they’re always one step ahead and Lucio’s too important right now to risk.”

“Damn alright, I’ll stay with him.” He grumbled as the two took their leave, leaving Adrian alone as Lucio and his assistant made a number of calls. With little else to do he looked around the room, his eyes landing on a row of various instruments lining the wall opposite the large window. It included everything from tambourines to trumpets to bass guitars and anything in between, he wasn’t sure how long he spent looking at the instruments, but it was long enough to be asked about it.

“You play?” The voice of Lucio spoke to his right.

“Nah, never had much time for it, was occupied with other things.”

“Fair enough, but what about a favorite? Everybody’s got something musical they feel a connection to, for me it’s always been the drums, specifically a kind called a _Cuíca._ It reminds me of my home, Brazil.”

Adrian looked from Lucio back towards the row of musical tools, looking over each and every one, “The saxophone.”

“Really? Never would’ve pegged that for you, into jazz then?” Lucio said in mild surprise.

Adrian nodded, “In terms of music, there’s not much I hate but a nice, slow, jazz piece really just feels…right.”

Lucio smirked, “I get that man, sometimes it’s hard to explain.”

They continued like that, lightly chatting about music and their interests until the thin assistant came to remark that Lucio’s show was to begin soon. Adrian was offered a premier spot in the club to which he politely declined instead deciding to wait out the show at the bar, while a drink was always a plus in his books the position of the bar also gave him a complete view of the club. If Talon showed up anywhere on the first floor, he’d have a clear line of sight compared to being in the middle of a dancing crowd. When the show finally began, Adrian was at the furthest edge of the bar counter, nearest to the main entrance. Pounding bass with techno beats filled the room as a young crowd filled out the club, cheering, dancing, falling into an almost cathartic lull as the show went on.

Adrian signaled the bar tended for a second shot of rum as he continued his vigilance over the dance floor, he was starting to think that Talon was literally anywhere else than here. The light clink of ice on glass to his side drew his attention to the refilled booze, wrapping his hands around the cool glass he took a sip as his eyes prowled the crowd lazily. A burst of crisp night air flowed into the room as the main door opened, Adrian’s eyes turned towards the newcomer, a man dressed in casual attire but without the posture of a man on his time off. Adrian’s back straightened as he stood up a bit more, gaze glued to the odd man. Another gust of wind accompanied by another odd induvial though this time it was a woman; more casual clothes without the feeling that they were here for enjoyment. As it happened a few more times the pieces clicked together, they thought they would be clever coming in individually to through off the suspicion of a large group. Good soldiers they might have been but good undercover agents they were not as he easily followed the various individuals spreading out along the outside of the mass of Lucio’s fans. Any shred of doubt he had about their aims vanished when one of the goons adjusted their pants, a brief reveal of metal reflecting the strobing lights gave Adrian all the conformation he needed. On what Hana hold told him Korea wasn’t exactly an open carry country, and the likelihood of them being a well-meaning yet misunderstood vigilante…well he was more likely to fuck a grunt then believe that crock of shit.

Downing the rest of the rum, he spoke up to the bar tender, “I’ll take the whole bottle.” Pushing himself off the counter, he grabbed the bottle in one hand and the empty whiskey tumbler in the other. Walking towards the gun-totting goon, he lightly pushed his way past several people with each step bringing him closer to the bombastic sounds emanating from the speakers.

Standing next to the man Adrian looked him over, nothing really out of the ordinary but the posture, the attitude, every feeling you get when you go to a club was absent from him. “Nice show huh?” Adrian said to the man, practically yelling.

The man turned to face him, his visage scrunched up into one of contempt, “What? Man just back off.”

“Talon really got you by the balls huh? Must suck to be the bottom bitch in the Talon hierarchy.” Adrian remarked, watching as the man’s eye turned to one of surprise before narrowing. Adrian didn’t give the man any more time before he smashed the whiskey tumbler across the goon’s face, the shattered glass lacerating his skin. The man fell to the ground screaming as he held his hands over his face, blooding pouring through his fingers. Adrian stomped the back of the goon’s head, sending his face crashing into the hard floor with a sickening bone-crunching crack. People around them screamed at the sight but their fear was lost in the deafening cacophony of Lucio’s concert. Leaning down he pulled out the concealed pistol, briefly considering the use of it before dismissing the idea, too many civilians and the bureaucratic clusterfuck he’d get caught in wasn’t worth it. Cocking the slide against his leg several times, he ejected on the bullets before tossing the empty handgun opposite of the crowd. Making his way towards the next Talon merc he slid through the mass of clubbers, the music blasting in his head as he looked at the half-empty bottle of rum in his hand. Looking up at he saw the next unfortunate soul that would face his unarmed brutality, a tall man standing a solid head higher than himself. He wasn’t burly but looks could be deceiving; tossing the bottle in his hand so that he was holding onto the neck of it he patted the towering man on the shoulder, calling up to him.

“Hey man you dropped this.”

When the goon looked, Adrian swung the bottle with all his force landing his hit with a solid _thunk_.

He looked at the bottle in his hand, “I really thought that was gonna shatter.” He said to the stumbling man grabbing the side of his head, “Well I’ll make sure it cracks on the next hit.”

Adrian’s arm shot out to grab the man by the scruff of his collar, pulling the stumbling merc towards himself as he swung the bottle again. This time hitting with a satisfying shatter. Not wasting anytime Adrian grabbed the back of the dazed goons head before forcing it down onto the knee that was rocketing upwards sending the man flying onto his back. The Talon merc groaned in pain as Adrian stood over him, reaching down to grab the man by his scalp, tugging his head upwards Adrian let loose a furious right hook knocking the man out cold.

Standing up he noticed that a crowd had gathered around them, the music was still going but it seemed that more of the patrons were becoming aware of the brawl occurring in the back of the club. Before he’d left the bar, he counted five likely Talon agents enter the bar, if Lucio was joining Overwatch then he was sure the man could take care of himself but that was under regular circumstance. In a crowded club where the man only had his instruments, Adrian wasn’t willing to take the risk. Scanning the surroundings, he couldn’t see the other three, they were likely already starting to make their move on Lucio but his ears caught a some the tail end of some unhappy customers.

“What the hell man?”

“No need to push, Jesus Christ.”

“What crawled up your ass and died?”

Turning towards the exclamations he could vaguely make out a familiar looking character pushing their way through the crowd. Following suit, he made his way through the clump of people, ignoring the barbs they threw his way as he drew closer to his target. It seemed he wasn’t the only one keeping his ears opened as the Talon merc turned to him as he was barely a meter away. In one smooth move she drew a knife from a hidden pocket and thrusted it out towards Adrian, it was a quick strike likely to get most people she comes across but ODST’s weren’t most people. With practiced reflexes he batted her knife away with an open palm, using that same hand he reached under grabbing the bottom of her forearm. Twisting until he could feel the grinding of bone-on-bone, causing her to drop the knife in pain and allow him to turn her around. Kicking the back of her legs she dropped to her knees while he still held onto her twisted forearm, now in a painfully unnatural position. Wrenching her forearm with a force turn, he heard the bones in her forearm snap followed by a cry of pain, he pushed her onto the floor of the club. Picking up the knife he looked around for the final two only to realize that the music had cut out.

Looking up towards the stage he saw that Lucio was engaged with the final two mercs, holding them off as he swung a guitar into the chest of one of the mercs, sending her flying off the stage. Lucio ducked under a swing from the final goon before he pulled out a weird handgun, if one could call it that, it was more like a hand cannon with a massive flat…speaker as the barrel? Pulling the trigger on that strange contraption Lucio sent the merc blasting off the stage with a shockwave burst. The goon landed in front of Adrian groaning in confusion, with a swift kick to the head Adrian put that man out cold before heading up towards Lucio. People cried out, shuffling for the exists turning the club from a bustling hive of activity to an empty ghost town.

“Oxton was right, they were probably on us like ticks the moment we stepped foot inside the city.”

Lucio nodded, “We should get up to prep-room, it’s not much but it’ll funnel Talon into one area…but first…” Lucio trailed off as he stared past Adrian. Twisting around another Talon agent walked into the now empty building, he was large, wide as a truck with arms like fucking tree trunks. Lucio sprinted out from behind Adrian firing his odd pistol at the merc, but where it had sent other men flying it only seemed to irritate this behemoth of a human, at most only sending him skidding backwards. Twirling the knife he picked up between his fingers, he gripped the blade between his fingers before hurling it at the large man, sticking with a solid _twump_ as it buried itself into the man’s chest. Though much like Lucio’s attempts it only served to piss the goon off more. As Lucio ran circles around the giant, keeping up a constant barrage of shots, the merc threw out his arms grabbing onto Lucio’s body before tossing him across the room, flinging him into the bar as he landed with a thunderous crash of glass.

The burly man turned his attention to Adrian who took a step back, no guns, no knifes, no armor, and a fucking human golem, the odds weren’t looking good.

“ _Adrian, the contact didn’t show but a bunch of Talon did, the whole thing was a setup.”_ Hana spoke over the radio.

“Yeah we’re already well acquainted.” He snarked as he rolled under a hefty swing from the brute, “Can’t really focus on talking, trying not to die.” He kicked with all his force into the gut of the merc, causing him to grunt in pain but not before he wrapped his sausage fingers around Adrian’s ankle, whipping him over head and into the concrete floor. Dazed, Adrian barely dodged the heavy stomp of the merc’s boot rolling out of the way as it crunched the concrete next to his head. The swimming in his head only grew worse as he rolled along the floor, trying to stand up he felt himself stumble backwards into a wall. Lucio got up from behind the bar and began letting loose shot after shot turning the human brute’s attention away giving Adrian a chance to get himself together. Looking around for anything to give them an edge, he spied a hefty steel speaker naught but a few feet away from him. When the goon lumbered around putting Adrian out of his line of sight, Adrian went over to the speaker and hefted the weighty metal box into his arms. He grunted as he picked it up, it weighed more than he though which would end up be a good thing in this case.

Lifting the speaker over his head he inched closer to the Talon merc before chucking the burdensome box at the legs of the behemoth. The speaker hit his legs with a sickening crunch as the leg bent inwards at a sharp angle, causing the man to howl in pain. Taking advantage of the respite Lucio ran out from behind the counter like a bat out of hell, jumping up at the merc he clapped the mans ears with a strike the echoed throughout the room. Blood poor out of the man’s ruptured ear drums as his wailing grew worse, looking to end this as soon as possible Adrian dashed over to the merc and raised his leg for a final blow as he drew near. With a fierce kick into the bent leg he felt the last little bit of resistance crumble as the bone broke the skin, jutting out like a rugged iceberg as the man fell to the floor, blood pooling around him. Adrian looked around at the destruction they caused, groaning bodies littered the room with blood spattering the floor.

“Think they’ll invite you back?” Adrian asked through rugged breath, still not feeling great after the slam to the floor.

Lucio laughed, “Heh maybe, but what about your friends? Seems they missed out on all the fun.” As if summoned by his words, Oxton and Song burst through the doors weapons drawn.

“Calvary’s here…love…Well now I just look like a fool.” She lamented.

“Geez you really went all out; can’t believe I missed some an epic fight. My stream would’ve loved it!” Hana said as she stepped over a mysterious liquid on the ground.

“Yeah well it wasn’t as fun as it seemed.” Adrian said as he popped his back, “We should focus on getting out of here first, preferably somewhere secure.”

“I have a hotel room that should be safe, I always book a spare room when I travel under a false name. Andrew mostly uses the rooms to organize business away from music practice, should be safe enough for now.” Lucio spoke up as he looked around at the trio of Overwatch agreement, they nodded in agreement. “Great I’ll pull my car around back, should let us leave in peace.”

After he left Adrian turned to Oxton, “You were right, but how’d they know we wanted Lucio? Are we that easy to read or is there a mole? We barely even know what the plan is until we’re in the air, the whole mission is compromised now.”

Oxton could only shrug, “Talon has lack of moral boundaries means they’re willing to do stuff we’re not, that’s not much of an answer but they could have any number of possibilities.”

Adrian swore under his breath, this whole thing just became a shitshow that they were stuck in the middle of. A loud groan to the side of him drew his attention to the Talon merc that Lucio hit off the stage with his guitar, an idea popped into his mind as Lucio told them to pile into the car.

“Oxton, help me lift this fucker into the car.” He spoke as he put his arms under the man’s shoulders.

“What for?” Despite her question she helped him regardless, lifting the man by his legs.

“We’re gonna get some answers.” He replied as they unceremoniously tossed him into the back of the trunk. As the rest piled into the car, none of them spied the mysterious figure watching them upon the rooftops across from them. As the car pulled out into the street and sped down the road, the mysterious figure that no one had seen followed them from rooftop to rooftop. More than just answers were going to be dropped that night.


	26. Hungry Heart

**Seoul, South Korea, Asia**

They stumbled into the hotel room with a bound Talon merc in tow, a thick hood pulled over his head. The room was spacious and a far cry from the bare minimum of the club, calling it luxurious would be an understatement, which is why there was such a stark contrast to the absolute mess that covered the room. True to what Lucio said, it seemed this was where a majority of the actual work was done, Lucio vaguely mentioned something about a lengthy festival here so getting semi-permanent accommodations was necessary. Though it seemed that those plans would be indefinitely on hold until they could figure out who was calling the shots, the why was obvious; the real question was how Talon knew they were going to hit up Lucio before even they did. Forcing the struggling man across the room, they opened up the door leading to a small bathroom before pushing the Talon goon inside.

“I’m still amazed we got him through the entire building with absolutely no problems.” Lucio chuckled.

“At times like this I find it’s better to just accepts the graces we’re given.” Adrian remarked, “Now onto what to do with our guest.”

“You brought him along but didn’t think of a plan?” Hana admonished.

“Well of course I have a plan and some methods to make him talk, but past experience tells me that my approach tends to clash with Overwatch’s code of conduct so to speak.” The UNSC wasn’t kind to insurrectionists, having witnessed and participated in a number of innie interrogations he felt comfortable in saying he could get answers, the state of the one being interrogated however…was another matter entirely.

Oxton gave an uncomfortable nod, “Yeah, so we’ll do it like this. We try it my way first, if the bloke doesn’t cough up what we need then I pass it onto you. With the promise that it won’t be extreme.”

Adrian gave a shrug, “Have it your way.” He had a feeling that Talon wouldn’t send out an agent they weren’t comfortable with, if the little bit he knew about their manifesto was correct – something about using violence to achieve what’s best for humanity – then it wouldn’t make sense to use agents that weren’t wholly committed to the cause. So Oxton’s attempt likely wouldn’t get anywhere if he was being honest with himself; but he’d prefer if he was proven wrong, interrogation wasn’t a pleasant experience for anyone involved except for many if the ONI spooks. It wouldn’t surprise him in the slightest if those secretive bastards got off to the torture.

Eyeing a sizeable balcony outside the window, he made his way across the room and outside onto it. It gave a grand view of the city; it was a refreshing sight to see such a large city bustling with life. Resting his arms on the railing, he twirled a cigarette between his fingers just to keep his hands busy. He wondered if this was how New Mombasa looked before the Covenant, a constant stream of people, interactions, work, every day like the others, a cycle but a comfortable one. He didn’t hold hope for surviving the war, no one did because that would imply, we win and hell no one’s that stupid. Though in a different world, maybe one like this where humanity won – a childish miracle he knows – could he ever live in a city like this…would he be able to fit into a ‘regular’ life. The war’s been his entire life, he hasn’t known a time humanity wasn’t fighting against the inevitable. Continuing on his own fantastical hypothetical, it wasn’t a matter of him NEEDING to live outside the UNSC, but more a question of…could he. So deep in his musings that he didn’t hear the door open up behind him, followed by a series of light steps.

“Smoking’s pretty unattractive you know, especially for a guy your age it’ll only make you look older.” Hana’s voice rang out.

He blinked in surprise, his mind brought back to reality, “Huh...uhh. Sorry I was dazing there, what’d you say?”

She didn’t respond, just leanded back against the railing with a light laugh, Adrian looked at the city skyline before looking at Hana.

“Could you ever see me living a regular life?”

She turned to him, a quizzical look upon her face, “Regular? Like…how? Cause I mean you are normal already, aren’t you?”

“But is what we’re doing regular? Normal? We’re caught up in some international conspiracy fighting villains that seem straight out of a comic book; I’ve spent half my life fighting an alien threat that eventually is going to result in the extinction of the human race. I mean what’s normal for the average joe, any one of those fools down there just living their life.”

“I don’t know why you’re asking me, I play video games for a living, but I mean maybe you could? Whose to say for sure until you try.”

He didn’t respond for a minute until he decided to steer away from his own hypothetical crisis, “You have family here right?” She turned to him; surprise evident on her face. “Ziegler told me, you plan to see them while we’re here?”

She sighed, “I don’t know, I want to but I’m also afraid of involving them in…this.” She spread her arms out, “They weren’t exactly thrilled when I told them I’d be joining the military, then Overwatch. I’ve seen them a few times since being in Overwatch but it always feels awkward – like there’s a tension, so it doesn’t make me eager to go see them.”

Adrian nodded in understanding, “Still…you should see them when you can, they’re just worried about you, hoping for the best. Even its awkward I’m sure you still enjoy seeing them right? Telling them about everything that’s happened?” She nodded, “You won’t realize how much you love them till there gone, so make sure to enjoy the time with them that you have.”

Another silence fell over them, Adrian still twirling the cigarette stuck it between his lips and pulled out his lighter. Casting a glance towards Hana he saw her casting a dark glare his way, with a sigh he tossed the cigarette aside.

“My mother used to smoke you know, always said it was the stress of her job. She quit years ago but well, the smell always just reminds me of her stress and as a kid I always wanted to try and make her stress go away…so it’s…you know.”

“What did your mom do?”

“She was a lawyer, worked a lot of important cases for big people so she was usually out of the house or working late, in the end I ended up spending a lot of time with my dad. He was a professional e-sports player, he’s the one who got me into games in the first place which I guess is why I ended up in Overwatch.”

“Now uh, I’m not one to question your parents love or anything but…a lawyer and an e-sports player?”

She giggled, “I swears it’s the truth though I don’t think my mom was lawyer yet when they met, still my dads always been really charismatic so it’s not too surprising.”

“What did your dad go pro in? I wonder if maybe there’s an overlap between our worlds aside from history.”

“Uhh let me think…its on the tip of my tongue…Ah! It was Starcraft. Ring any bells?”

Adrian shook his head, “Maybe it existed five-hundred years ago, but I’ve never heard of it.”

“That’s a shame.” She deflated.

Any more conversation was cut off when Oxton walked out onto the balcony, defeat evident on her face.”

“He’s a tough nut to crack, though I shouldn’t be surprised. Talon is bloody scary.”

Adrian pushed himself off the railing, “So…?”

“He’s all yours, just don’t do anything extreme please? Just keep it…” Her words trailed off, she lightly nodded her head to the oblivious Hana who was absorbed on her phone.

“Yeah yeah don’t worry, but uhh it may sound worse than it is, so maybe take the pipsqueak out no the town, see her parents maybe.” He said as Lena’s face visibly blanched.

“You know I was hoping to take my girlfriend here sometime soon, but now I’m not sure I’ll be able to with a clear conscious.”

“Just think of it as tough love.” He spoke absentmindedly as he walked over towards the bathroom, sliding open the door. The Talon merc was bound to a chair, the hood still draped over his face with his hands tied behind his back.

“Break every bone in my body, I’ll never fucking talk to you.” The goon spat out.

“Oh ho you’re gonna regret saying that.” He said with a ruthless snarl, closing the door behind him he crouched down in front of the hitched merc, “Now where to begin.”

……

……

……

Adrian flicked a splatter of blood of his hand, looking back towards the bound man, who now laid slumped in the chair, any previous confidence gone like dust in the wind.

“That’s all you know, nothing more I need to pry out?”

“Christ man no, I sweat that’s all I know. Talon doesn’t tell us foot soldiers their grand plans, only what’s immediately necessary, you want more information you gotta go after those in the upper echelon.” He begged out through ragged breath. “I know what I know because I’ve risen the ranks, heard some conversation I maybe wasn’t supposed overhear. Someone’s feeding Talon info from the outside, someone not within our ranks but isn’t opposed to workin’ with us. As for Lucio well honestly seems it more just pure fuckin’ coincidence, the eggheads got a lab way north of here in Mongolia, the word floating about is that they’ve found something…something big. Bunch of resources and guys have been diverted from other operations to this place; but what I’ve also heard is they’re stuck, hit a roadblock and they needed help from the outside. Talon ain’t stupid, seems they were lookin’ at the same places you were and decided to try to get Lucio before you could, though our plans weren’t so kind as to getting’ him onboard our operation.”

Adrian leaned back against the tiled wall of the bathroom, eyes scanning the form of the man tied in front of him, he’d had an idea who Talon’s outside agent was but he wasn’t ready to commit to the idea out of paranoia. Onto this lab, it raised a lot of questions but with Talon involved the answers couldn’t be good, though while he wasn’t entirely sure of the idea of coincidence, it would explain why Talon only sent out a small handful of people, but it might also have just been a piss-poor strategy. He swore under his breath, he hated being in the dark but there wasn’t much more he could get out of this guy, even if he resorted to the methods Oxton wanted him to avoid he doubted anything useful would be gained.

Walking out of the room, he saw the others outside engaged in various activities, upon seeing his emergence from the bathroom Lena looked at him expectantly. Not wasting anytime, he relayed all the information he’d gained, from the captive. By the time he finished Oxten was already making a call to Winston though deep down they all knew the next step in the plan, it was time to get prepped for a trip to Mongolia. Heading back into the bathroom, he went behind the prisoner and forced him up onto his feet, Overwatch would want him as a captive not another body in the ground. Pushing the man forward, Adrian followed behind the bound man, when he went to push again, he found himself forcing a limp body to the ground. The distinct sound of a bullet cracking through the air echoed throughout the room as glass shattered, the bullet finding it’s mark in the throat of the Talon prisoner. Blood spattered across the floor in front of the merc as he fell forward, gurgling on his blood as he struggled to breath. Adrian immediately hit the deck, glancing around he saw the others doing the same, peeking out of the window to try and find the shooter he was forced back down as another bullet passed mere inches from his head.

“Bloody hell, that widow never knows when to quit does she?” Lena snapped from behind gritted teeth.

“Friend of yours?” Adrian spoke back, searching for the gear Winston had smuggled in.

“Windowmaker, seems she’s not keen on us learning about their secret little project.” Oxton said as she pulled out her iconic dual pistols from a black case while tossing Adrian his SOCOM. “I’ll deal with her, keep a perimeter for any other Talon. Lucio, Hana, arm up and keep the room secured and give Adrian back up if it comes to it.” With those words she zipped out of existence in a swirl of blue light, a few seconds later the pop of gunfire could be heard outside as wind howled through the broken window.

“Just fucking perfect.” Adrian swore as he rolled the Talon merc over, he didn’t need to check the man’s pulse to know he was dead, dark blood coated the floor in a heavy puddled and the goon’s eyes were empty. Well whatever Talon wanted to keep them away from, this attack only served to fuel their curiosity even more, whatever Talon was hiding… he’d find it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Deep Underground the Mongolian Steppe**

“What the hell is it?” A scrawny scientist said as she looked closer at the object in question, poking the vessel with a stylized pen. Sealed in a glass container it scurried around in a fruitless attempt at freedom.

“Who knows, but that’s what were here to do.” The other scientist said as she looked down at her notes, looking up from her work she snapped at the younger girl, “Back away from it! It’s highly aggressive, we’re still not sure what its capable off so don’t go sticking your face near it.”

The younger scientist jumped back, dropping her pen on the metal table, “Sorry! But I’m curious…how’d we capture it? It seems so…fragile.”

“It was dormant when we found it, almost comatose, it only ‘woke up’ when we brought it here.” She scribbled something down before sticking the notepad under her arm, “Alright enough messing about, we’ve got to look at the other items from the wreckage.”

The two scientists left the room flicking the lights off as they exited, leaving the unknown specimen alone in the dark scuttling about. At once it stopped, freezing in place as if controlled by an outside force, then in an instant it rammed itself into the wall of the glass container. Once more it banged itself into the glass, again and again it rammed it’s body into the wall surrounding it until a sliver of a crack appeared. Inching closer to the crack it squirmed, an almost inaudible high-pitch squeal emanating from it as a trio grotesque tentacles seemed to grow outward from its body. From the end of the tentacles red veins like roots spurted forth, gushing a foul ooze as they did so. They touched all over the container, running it’s limbs across the wall until it settled on the crack, the red roots worming their way into the tiny fracture within in the glass. Slowly by surely the crack grew as the red feelers implanted themselves in the container, eventually a small piece of glass fell away from the case. The glass piece landed on a metal table with a near inaudible _clink,_ for a moment all in the room was still until a freakish limb inched it’s way out of the glass, slowly but surely it began to put itself and by connection the glass container closer to the edge of the table.

With one final heave it inched it’s way off the table, the container shattering on impact as it hit the floor. A clack behind it drew its attention to the pen from earlier just as the door to the outside opened. It scrambled away out of sight as the younger scientist from earlier made her way into the room, mumbling to herself, “Why I’d have to loss my pen of all things, I can’t do any work without it.” She made herself deeper into the room dark room before she caught sight of it laying on the floor, sighing with relief she bent over to pick up but frozen when her hand bumped something else. Looking further up the floor she saw broken glass scattered around the ground, her heart froze in place as her eyes drifted up to the empty table. Any chance to scream, to beg for help was cut off as a set of barbarous tentacles wrapped themselves around her throat, digging in deep and spreading like tree roots. She let out neither a scream no whimper, only struggled gasps for breath as her world darkened around her before all at once her vision turned to nothingness.


	27. Hell Is A Place On Earth

**Deep Underground the Mongolian Steppe**

Vras’ Vandeltheam could smell it, the encroaching death that these filthy humans thought they could harness. Throughout his life he’d been taught of the fall of their gods, how parasite known as the flood wiped his people’s precursors from existence. It had long been thought extinct, that the gods final measures had wiped out the flood, but among the sacred ring that those humans defiled with every step… they had risen once more. Locked away deep within the ground in a facility much like this one the parasite was kept, though not for the futility of study like these humans insist on but for containment. It was why his blood boiled despite his freezing surroundings; the stupidity of these pests knew no bounds.

After leaving the sacred ring, something had…happened. What exactly had transpired he could not be sure, but after a period lost to him he awoke here in the land of the heretics. None of his kin survived, though he wasn’t even sure if they were with him to begin with, it seems he might have been the only one to land on this planet but the truth continues to elude him. Like an animal they restrained him, incapacitating him before stuffing him in this hellish pod that chilled him to the core. His body immobile, the only control he had was over his thoughts, that and his keen sense of smell though now it seems more like a curse. To be able to smell the scent of one’s inevitable doom is rather disheartening, though had he been free a solution might be available to him to prevent the spread of the flood. This facility was underground, deep underground where the warmth of a sun could never even hope to reach, he’d wager even deeper than the facility in which the flood we’re unleashed. That said while the humans were foolish and they’re technology primitive, it was with bitter acknowledgement that the humans could be proficient in certain things and if there was one conclusion he could make about this facility from what he saw…it was secure. Though there was something different about this place from the other humans, a difference he could no exactly place.

While containment was not an option, especially on this wretched human hive, he did believe that it would take a great amount of time for the flood to break free. With that time the idea of total eradication was within the realm of possibility. When he awoke after the crash, he noticed that the humans had taken with them his ships Borer jump-drive, perhaps attempting to utilize his people superior slipspace technology he does not know, only that it provides a possibility to halt the infection. The Borer drives are precise pieces of machinery but can be driven to instability if correctly sabotaged causing a catastrophic slipspace malfunction that would vaporize everything within it’s blast radius. This however was dependent on his freedom which he obviously lacked.

As if the gods themselves we’re hearing his prayers, a loud blaring entered his mind as the facility became bathed in a reddish glow. He already knew what was happening, the human foolish ideas of containment had failed, no it had spread to infection, but by the grace of gods he could feel the pressure latches on his cryo-cell unlock as air swooshed into the pod. With great effort he opened his eyes as a faint layer of ice cracked, it would take some time but he would break free, and Vras would eradicate the mistakes here no matter the cost.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Skies Above Mongolia**

The stealth craft hummed quietly through the air, in the back a dozen armed Overwatch personnel sat checking their gear as Adrian sat in a daydream. Back in his ODST gear it felt like being welcomed back into his second skin. A light kick to the end of his foot set Adrian shooting up, like he woke up from a deep nap.

“Sleeping already spaceman? Or have your nerves frozen your lips?” The great German spoke, his massive frame pushing the boundaries of the smaller ship they were flying in. Unlike the aptly named Orca which could fit half a dozen squads into it and still have room to spare, this craft was better suited to quiet, rapid deployments though the ‘quiet’ part of this mission was practically non-existent. After the death of their prisoner, Winston had almost immediately organized a deployment to the Talon base in Mongolia. Hana and Oxten had stayed in Seoul hoping to see if they could find any leads on the elusive Mr. Kim, Lucio had opted to head straight for Gibraltar deciding that finishing out his concert tour at the chance of risking his fans wasn’t worth the danger. As for Adrian, well he just went where he was told, so here he was with a few recognizable faces other than. Other than the German, McCree was on the ship as well as Vickers, other than that it was mostly soldiers he’d briefly seen around base but hadn’t bothered to know.

“Just zoning out, I imagine you do that most of the day too, daydreaming about glory and big fights huh?” Adrian answered.

“Hah, of course not! Anytime spent sleeping is time I could be fighting!” He responded with jolly enthusiasm, “Can’t earn glory if I’m too lazy. Though from what I see, you have no problems falling asleep whenever!”

“Yeah well where I’m from you come to enjoy what sleep you can get.”

“No doubt my friend! I just find it funny how different we can be.” He broke off the conversation when a call appeared on his wrist-pad, “Ah sorry my friend but I most take this, there’s nothing worse than earning a woman’s scorn because you didn’t answer her calls.” He said just as enthusiastic as before, waving as he moved to a more private part of the craft thought that many just consisted off a corner where there wasn’t a soldier within two feet. Just as he thought he have the rest of the flight to himself another voice broke his brief rest.

“It’s been a busy time at Overwatch ain’t it.” The voice of Vickers spoke up as the veteran took the free seat next to Adrian.

“Tell me about it. How you holdin up?” Adrian questioned, his mind turning back to their brief conversation when Vickers had gotten back from Africa.

“Fine, it was mostly just one hell of a revelation to learn about aliens, but I mean with everything else going on in the world I suppose it’s not too far off.” Vickers said as Adrian nodded along, it seemed he wasn’t told everything, only the very basics and even then, it seems he was kept in the dark about most stuff regarding the Covenant. Probably for the best, brining it more people than necessary would only make things more complicated.

“You know my sister came out here once,” Vickers reminisced steering the conversation in a completely different direction, figuring it’d be for the best Adrian didn’t push the sudden change of heart. “Came out on some college trip to learn about the culture, though the school must’ve left out the part about Talon’s lab.”

Adrian chuckled to himself, “Probably isn’t great for tourism, how old’s your sister?”

“Don’t get any ideas bud, she’s married.” Vickers jested, “She’s going to be twenty-eight in a month.”

“So what’s that make her, like…half your age old man?”

“Piss off, you can’t be much younger than me.”

“I’m twenty-nine.”

“Damn and here I thought I was rough looking for my age.”

Adrian laughed something real, laughed harder than he had in what felt like years. It was just one of those moments where in hindsight it maybe wasn’t as funny as he thought but the just he buildup of emotions finally being released made the dam of laughter break free.

“Try not to bust yourself a hernia kid, you’ve actually got looks so it’d be a shame to waste them on a fucking hernia riddled body.”

“Yeah yeah, besides looks like tea party time is over.” Adrian remarked wiping a stray tear from his eye as the aircraft came to a lurching halt. Almost at once every solider in the craft stood up, arming themselves and running through one final check of their gear. Stepping from the craft, Adrian shouldered the assault rifle he’d plundered from the weapons stash in Vladivostok, based on a brief bit of research it was German made though not seeing widescale development. The name – Adrian was rather sheepish to admit – was a mouthful, so he’d abbreviated it to the GK – 336.

“Target location is… in sight?” One of the Overwatch grunts on point said with uncertainty as they moved through the vast Mongolian plains.

“Don’t sound to sure to me Hackett, what’s the problem?” Vickers ordered as he moved his way up the chain of soldiers.

“Well we’re supposed to be assaulting a lab right, but all I see is a small hamlet with only half a dozen standing buildings. I’ve rechecked the coordinates twice…this is where we’re supposed to be.”

As they crested a slight rise in the land everyone else saw the cluster of buildings was really…well just that. There was no sprawling megaplex of labs and buildings outlined by a massive wire fence with guards patrolling every conceivable inch, instead this looked more akin to an abandoned fishing village. Adrian’s mind ran to the thought that he’d been duped, that the Talon merc had lied but no, he’d spent years practicing and honing his techniques for better or worse and he knew in his heart that the merc had been telling the truth. There was something more here, something they couldn’t see, but if Adrian’s brief experiences with ONI taught him anything, then you could never trust anything you saw.

Adrian walked up next to Vickers and the other soldier named Hackett, taking a knee by them both as Vickers turned to Adrian. “You’re sure this is the place? No chance it’s elsewhere.”

“I’m positive.”

“Alright, well- wait… movement coming out of the hut at three o’clock.”

Adrian snapped his rifle to his eye, peering down the magnified scope, five-armed Talon guards walked out of the tiny building conversing amongst each other.

“Well something’s not right.” Adrian muttered himself.

“You don’t say.” McCree quipped as he came up next to Adrian with a grin, “I’ve seen plenty of setups similar to this back a ways in my life, the main compound is underground with an unassumin’ surface to deter any suspecting eyes.”

Vickers nodded, “Alright…well we could go in fast or-“

He didn’t get to answers as Reinhardt bounded past them, boosted by rocket propellant on his armor sending him skimming down the rise in the land and towards the hamlet. No one chased after or called out for they realized it’d be a futile effort, if anything it just made their job easier because by the time they reached the buildings Reinhardt will have already cleared out the handful of Talon mercs. McCree sighed in resignment as he the sound of weapons fire cracked to life followed by the sound of Reinhardt’s hammer causing untold destruction. To no one’s surprise when they reached the hamlet, it was littered by the groaning bodies of the Talon soldiers with one bent in a way that shouldn’t be possible.

Adrian looked around before turning towards the German, “So uh…this is honor and glory?”

The man shrugged, “Eh, I’ll take what I can get.”

As the group spread out with most forming a perimeter, Adrian and McCree went into the building that had previously ben occupied by the Talon agents. It was small wand as bare as a house could be, a rotten wood table surrounded by three rickety chairs, there was no bed, no bookshelf, absolutely nothing save for the table. The walls were so thin he could see between the slits of the wooden boards leaving no room for anything to be hidden from view. Turning towards McCree, he saw the man crouched down investigating a corner of the shack.

“Find anything?”

“I think so.” He responded as the cowboy stood up, lightly kicking a wooden panel at it’s base where it bent back slightly. With a click a small hole in the ground opened up followed by a long metallic pole with a red scanner on the end, it raised to McCree’s eyes before an automated voice rang out.

“ **Biometric Scan Required**.”

McCree called out for Reinhardt to bring one of the Talon mercs into the building, as the large man lumbered in with an unconscious goon in his hand, he pressed the man’s face up against the scanner. After a slit second it spoke again, “ **Scan Aceppted”** at which point it sunk back into the ground. A rumbling underneath the floor shook the house, this time a much wider hole in the floor opened up followed by two large cylindrical tubes encased in a metal rectangle, two elevators that presumably led to the lab.

Adrian whistled, “Nice thinking Jesse.”

He shrugged, “I’ve seen a lot of the style, after a while it’s becomes like second nature to look for hidden passages.”

Vickers dashed into the room, “We’ve got a problem, Athena picked up a convoy of armored trucks heading this way. Either they picked up on our trail or we’ve just got some awful timing.”

The trio looked at each other, before Adrian answered, “Well Reinhardt there’s no way your fitting on that elevator, besides your hammer might cause more harm than good in such close quarters.”

“ _Ja_ , I’ll stay here to hold back the on coming forces, you as well McCree we don’t know what’s coming so I’d appreciate the support.” The cowboy nodded in affirmation.

Vickers waved over a handful of soldiers, “All right Adrian take half of my men, Hackett and Guin are my best men. Coetze, Milton, Pak, and Wolfe are fresh to Overwatch but are far from green.” Adrian nodded his thanks before turning towards the elevator, splitting into two groups they crammed into the tight metal spaces with each squad occupying an elevator. Looking towards the panel on the elevator there was no myriad of buttons to press, no options for where to go, there existed two arrow shaped buttons, one pointing up and the other pointing down. With brief hesitation he slammed the bottom button, the metal cage made an odd whirring sound before lurching down with a screeching whine. As the elevators began their descent into the unknown, Adrian couldn’t help but feel a tingling in his gut telling him something was off. He’d always trusted his instincts but when one was already on a trip down there wasn’t much else he could do. Occasionally the elevator would rumble, sending a wave of uneasy laughter echoing in the tiny box, the unease growing with every second as they continued down deeper…and deeper…and deeper. Adrian began to wonder if three was actually a bottom to this ride or if they’d been sent on a trip straight to the bowels of hell; ODSTs had the motto of feet first into hell but he never thought it’d be taken so literally and so pathetically.

The voice of Winston crackled over the comms, _“Is everything okay down there? You’re postion is getting fuzzy, I’m starting to lose the connec-”._ His voice died out in a burst of static.

“Hackett this is Kasporov, just checking our local comms.”

_“Got you boss, there’s a bit of interference but nothing major. I expect we won’t hear from base until we’re own our way up.”_

He nodded that he knew Hackett couldn’t see, “Looks like we’re on our own down here.”

A heavy shake ran throughout the elevator, it wasn’t like the previous rumbles reminiscent of an old elevator but the feeling of the whole Earth shaking around them. The elevator slowed to a stop as a red light began flashing in the small room, a groan of annoyance rang as they realized it’d be a manual climb from here. Though under that exasperation was an uncertainty, the mission had already taken a turn for the unusual but what had caused such a stir? An explosion? But what could be felt so far down.

 _“You guys feel that rumble? Everything alright?”_ Hackett questioned.

“Must’ve disrupted something, our rides hit it’s end here. You guys set up a perimeter at the base, we’ll make our way down the old-fashioned way.”

_“Roger that.”_

As Adrian ended their communication the others were already thinking ahead, with someone cracking the emergency hatch above them and hoisting themselves out. A heavy rope was attached to the cables leading to the base which Adrian found with surprise wasn’t too far down; had the ride lasted for only a few seconds longer they likely would’ve hit the base. Turning his gaze up he found he couldn’t see the top, not even an ounce of light could be seen from the bowels of the hell they found themselves in. One by one the soldiers made their way down the rope, upon reaching the floor of the elevator shaft they found Hackett and his men had already cracked the elevator door. As Adrian shouldered his assault rifle, stepping out of the elevator shaft another deep rumble but this time more audibly heard as an explosion sent everyone stumbling. Silence reigned until a creaking from behind them started to echo followed by an ear-piercing screech of metal on metal as the previously stuck elevator plummeted to the ground at breakneck speed. With a grinding crunch it hit the ground with a heavy crash sending sparks flying everywhere and completely blocking off that shaft for any future use.

“Jesus have we got some lucky timing or what.” The one known as Milton joked

“You just don’t know when to shut your mouth do you?” Pak admonished the other, slapping him upside the back of his head.

Tuning out there banter Adrian focused on the mission at hand, looking ahead of them was a long stretch of hallway with a series of doors on each side, at the end of the hall it split into two separate paths with the words, **“Research, Security, Crew Quarters”** pointing right and **“Restricted Storage, Cold Storage, Containment”** pointing left. Motioning for the others to form up behind him, he started inching forward before the staggering realization hit him, the fact that’d he’d missed it stunned him dead in his tracks, it seemed the others picked up on it as well.

“Where is everyone…” Adrian questioned, the sense of unease he’d felt earlier now completely engulfing him. He’d been on a dozen life or death missions, been under pressure so heavy it’d turn coal to diamond in an instant but in this moment, this unexplainable feeling of…dread washed over him like a drowning wave. A loud blaring rang throughout the hallway, the familiar flashing red of the elevator now coated the entire hallway in a steady radiance giving the sterile lab an ethereal tone. Behind them the elevator doors were blocked by a second layer of impenetrable steel followed by a hallway sized metal plate at least a foot thick slamming down in front of the elevators before another series of blockades spurted from the walls creating an airtight seal.

Well there goes our exit, Adrian thought to himself, it seemed the only way out was to go on forward. If they wanted to unlock the security lockdowns, they’d need to find the security offices and find out what caused the lockdown in the first place. The rest of the squad kept a stunned silence, this mission had gone from weird to bad to fucking unbelievable.

“Alright, we find out what the hell Talon’s got going on down here then we find a security console to reverse the lockdown and haul ass out of here. Got it?” Adrian ordered.

A series of firm nods greeted him in return, as they continued their trek down the hallway each passing room was checked and subsequently cleared. The rooms consisted of mostly offices which no one in any room, personal belongings littered the desks and walls but no sign of an actual person. As they reached the end of the hall, the path splitting into two directions, Adrian deiced to take the path to the left, they needed to find the security offices but crew quarters and research offered the possibility of finding people or finding whatever the hell was happening.

The sound of gunfire echoed from the hall to the left before it was quickly silenced, a look was shared between the group before they quickly made their way down the hall, the heavy clanging of their boots on metal reverberating through the tight corridors. Turning a corner to where the gunfire had came from they were met with a sealed door, not wasting anytime Adrian pulled out his TACPAD and walked up to the door controls. Ripping off the panel, he clamped a pair of odd looking hooks from his TACPAD to the wires running the door controls, after a few seconds of tinkering the door opened with a hiss, the distinct smell of blood wafting through the unsealed door.

“You smell that?” Coetze said.

“Yeah, but its strong…there’s a lot of it.” Someone responded.

The red light still glaring they made their way through now opened door into a four-split intersection with, a path leading towards security, research, and the crew quarters. Not needing to order the movement they made their way straight ahead towards security but stopped in the middle of the interaction as the metallic clinking of their boots became a sickening squelch. Stopping in their tracks, Adrian lifted up his boot to see a thick substance drip off his armored boot.

“Somebody shoot out that light, can’t see what the hell we’re stepping in with that damn red glow.”

When the red glare died with a bang, Adrian turned on the flashlight attached to his helmet revealing his combat boots to be covered in dark red blood. Looking up it wasn’t just the floor that was slicked with blood, but the walls as well, as if a tornado of gore has swept through the hallway splattering every surface with the crimson liquid.

“What the fuck…” Adrian swore in disbelief.

“The hell did we stumble into?” Hackett wondered, “Boss we gotta get the hell out of here. We’re not prepared for this.”

Adrian nodded as the squad rushed towards the security offices, blood splashing under every step as they wasted no time. The main security console was located inside a small room inside of the larger ‘security’ wing, which mostly consisted of an armory and surveillance. Pak walked up to the console, trying to find a way to reverse the lockdown only to slam the metal frame out of frustration.

“We need the security chief’s ID for a complete override, otherwise best I can do is turn the lights to normal and kill the alarm.” He said as he flicked a couple switches, killing the headache inducing red light that permeated every inch of the lab. “On the plus side – though I hardly consider it good news – I’ve got location access to all the crew of the lab. The security chief is in containment but huh…that’s odd.”

“What is it?”

“Well…it’s also showing their vitals, most of it is offline and I can’t get a reading but some of them…it just keeps flipping between alive and dead, and the location data for them is….hectic to say the least. And come look at this.”

Adrian leaned down to look at the console screen, it showed a name marked _Subject Delta_ , and unlike most of the other lab personnel, it was still alive in cold storage. Adrian didn’t want to spend a second longer here than he had to, but if he was forced to go to containment anyway then it wouldn’t hurt to check out cold storage and see who this mysterious item was. He turned away from the screen, groaning in frustration, there was something else down here and by a miracle they hadn’t crossed paths with it yet – but he wasn’t sure how long that luxury was going to last.

“Hackett and Guin come with me to containment, the rest of you bunker down here while Pak keeps his eyes open on what’s happening. Get comms open, let the others topside know we’ve stumbled into a quarantine lockdown, take all the necessary precautions they have to and if a mouse so much as breathes down here, I want to know about it, we clear? Good.”

Leaving the security room, the trio made there way back down the blood-soaked hallway, he knew that splitting up at a time like this was reckless, but they weren’t left with much of a choice. Having someone monitoring the lab could mean the difference between life and death, and shit…they needed that ID otherwise they wouldn’t be getting out of here. An inhuman screech tore through the hallway, like an abominable wailing that went down to your core, and for the first time in years Adrian could say with certainty…he was afraid.

After the hallway of blood they saw something new, a green-brown guck was littering the entrance hallway, it trailed down the corridor to the sealed exit where the shit was smeared all over the wall, as if it was trying to get out. He was going to ignore it, to move on, when once of the office doors hissed upon, everyone’s eyes turning towards the room, weapons raised. For a second nothing came out, and Adrian almost believe that nothing would come out, hoped that nothing would come out.

Until it did.

Lumbering with heavy footfalls it walked out, a human…fucking…body. Barely recognizable as it’d been twisted beyond any semblance of humanity, its skin tearing apart at the seams as that same guck oozed out like puss. It’s chest burst opened, ribs poking out around a bulbous tumor that had red tentacles stuck out like tendrils, shooting around, squirming like worms. The persons head was bent off to the left painted into a visage eternally screaming. The arms were more like claws of overgrown muscle fused into life, underneath the “claw”, Adrian could spy a normal human hand faintly twitching with every step. His mind raced back to what Pak said in security, the fluctuation between life and death. Clothes still clung to the abomination like ancient robes, a name tag hung on by a single thread, the words “Doctor Clarice Richardson” etched upon the thin plastic card. The only sign that this thing had once been human, the last memory of Clarice Richardson.

Behind him Guin gagged at the sight, something he himself likely would’ve done had he not been paralyzed with fear. At the sound, the mutation turned towards them, it’s red tentacles no longer aimlessly searching the air but focused dead ahead. The trio stood stock still with their weapons raised as the humans stared off with whatever the hell that thing was. It took a single step forward and Adrian opened fire, the others following suit as a barrage of weapons fire bore down on it. The same unholy screech they heard earlier was repeated as it charged them uncaring of the bullets tearing through its fleshly body. Questions ran through Adrian’s head, mostly what kind of fucking abomination didn’t die when shot, let alone seem to even register what a figurative hellfire was raining down upon it. A few stray shots hit the pulsating tumor causing it to pop like a zit, sending the revolting oozes spraying forwards onto Adrian, Hackett, and Guin. They took a few steps backwards as it let out one final roar before ceasing it’s charge falling dead just more feet in front of them.

Covering in dripping ooze Guin did more than gag, letting out a torrent of bile behind them as Adrian repressed the same urge. Walking over to the creature with the others in tow, he rolled the beast over with his foot, the human hand still barely twitching giving Adrian an uncomfortable shiver. Looking at the abomination below them, the true realization settled in over them that this wasn’t just one isolated monster, this unthinkable creation was stalking the halls of this lab. If hell existed, this is what Adrian imagined it would be.


	28. I Lost Something That Day

**Talon Research Lab Deep Underneath Mongolia**

Following their first encounter with the abomination, Adrian had immediately radioed back to Pak to alert all Overwatch to the highest quarantine protocols, furthermore asking that any troops leave the immediate area. This lab could go up in a ball of flame along with any poor son of a bitch in the area, and if that came to pass he’d die with a clearer conscious knowing he’d put out a warning. Hackett and Guin in tow, they’d slowly begun making their way towards the containment branch with every creak sending their nerves on overload. The groaning wail of the parasites could be heard growing louder with every step, Adrian wasn’t sure how smart these fucking walking abortions were, but gunfire would alert even the dumbest creature to their position.

Walking through another winding corridor smattered with blood and ooze, they encountered more of the walking horrors shambling aimlessly in the tight corridors. Halting those behind him, he pulled a grenade from his belt and tossed it forward towards the grouped-up monstrosities. When the smoked cleared it seemed to be slightly more effective than their bullets as it seemed to have completely sheared the legs of the beasts from their bodies. Leaving them to crawl towards them with only their arms, though if anything it just served to make them even more terrifying. Opening fire on the crippled monsters it felt like an entirety until they died, typical bullets seemed to be worthless on creatures that didn’t have any organs, more like it just passed through them like paper.

“Jesus we’ll run out of ammo just trying to stay alive.” Guin remarked.

Adrian was about to respond before a blip on his radar caught his attention, it was coming from the dead corpses but well last he checked coming back from the other side was still an impossibility. As if to spite his words, a small, puffball like creature crawled on top of one of the corpses, its red tentacles roaming over the corpse before it burrowed into the chest cavity. After a split second of silence, the corpse started to spasm, it’s arms flailing wildly.

“What in the absolute fuck.” Hackett murmured to himself as he fired into the spasming corpse until it broke apart like dry plaster. “So we got fucking parasitic zombies that can come back at any time, well if this ain’t absolutely fan-fucking-tastic.”

Despite voicing what Adrian was feeling, he tried to keep his voice composed, “The sooner we get that ID card the sooner we’re out of here. Let’s keep our mind focused on the missions.”

As they walked pasted the bodies, they all popped a burst into each corpse they passed for good measure, though they were unsure if that’d actually do anything. The hallway split into three directions ahead of them, each corresponding to one of the divisions. Turning to follow the corridor into containment Adrian noticed that the pings on his radar grew rapidly with each step, yet…he didn’t hear any growth in the eerie wailing that permeated the rest of the base. Turning a corner stopped in his tracks as his boots stepped into a thick squishing floor, ahead of him the entire corridor didn’t even look recognizable as a lab. A brown, undulating membrane covered every possible surface, but what’s more there seemed to be pulsating sacs of flesh growing from the membrane itself. Making their way with cautious steps though the nauseating hallway, Adrian passed a glance at the sacs as his radar lit up with unknowns when it all came together.

“These sacs…are…they’re nests. Filled to the brim with something, probably those scuttling spider fucks, my radar is blowing up with tags.” Glancing back to the other two, he didn’t see any reaction to the news but empathized, it’s hard to fully take stock of the situation when it feels you’ve already hit rock bottom. Without any further discussion, Adrian stood back up continuing to lead the trio and trek through the squelching membrane. At the end of a hallway was an entrance held forced open by the brownish tissue, like it forced it’s way out from the containment room. Inching closer to their goal, they noticed that the lights inside the room were off leaving the area ahead of them in near-total darkness. Switching on their lights, the room became illuminated with their faint rays revealing a grotesque interior unlike anything anyone had ever seen. It seemed almost alive, as if the room was covered in a pulsating flesh that rippled with every step they took, vomit colored strands like a spiders web grew covering the room like a haunted mosaic. In terms of their target however, he – or rather it – was nowhere to be seen, yet a quick check with Pak confirmed that the security chief was still in there. Stepping into the room, the door immediately shut behind them with a groan as if it was forced shut. The hauntingly familiar wail echoed throughout the room, piercing their eardrums as they frantically searched the room for any sign of the creature. Keeping his breathing even, a glob of the green puss landed on his forearms armor planting. With a careful gesture he nodded to the others as he faced upwards, to find the man they were looking for…or what was left of him. It was like a bastardized spider from a psychos imagination, the vague resemblance of a human body faced them with a series of uneven legs erupting from the corpses back and two long spindly arms stretched out in front of it.

Before they had time to fire, it swung down and landed a heavy blow on Guin sending him flying across the room before turning towards Hackett and spearing the man through his shoulder, lifting him off the ground like a doll. Adrian pulled down the trigger of his assault rifle unleashing a torrent of bullets into the spider freak, it let out an unreal screech before dropping Hackett and scuttling across the ceiling and into the darkness of the room. Guin rushed over, helping to pick up Hackett and set him against the sealed door. The man pushed them off, as he settled against the metal frame pulling out his pistol with his free hand.

“The more you worry about me the longer we’re stuck down here, get us out of here and we can patch me up.” He growled with a tone that left no room for argument. Adrian hesitantly nodded, there was a lot they didn’t know about these creatures and leaving one of his squad…but there wasn’t much else they could do. Patting Hackett on the shoulder, he set off with Guin into the darkness of the room. Massive glass containers lined the wall mostly empty but occasionally filled with junk and organic material that Adrian couldn’t make out. Further down the isle of containers, the sound of several legs tapping against metal echoed.

As their lights hit the back wall, the revolting sight of the living abomination came into view, except now a pistol dangled from one of it’s thin, gangly arms. Upon seeing the duo walk into view it opened fire blindly most of the shots going wide but a few ricocheting off Adrian armor. The combined fire of Guin and Adrian made short work of the creature despite it feeble attempts at arming itself, though the more they encountered these monsters the more he regretted not bringing his plasma weapons. Conventional weapons seemed mostly ineffective, just passing through these creatures with little damage, but plasma…well he’d found nothing that resisted plasma.

With Guin standing watch, Arian walked over to the bullet-ridden corpse, the horrified gaze of the human face staring back up him. Kneeling down he held down the feeling of bile as his gloved hands roamed the distorted body for any sign of a security key. Eventually the tip of his finger bumped against a hard-plastic edge, trying to yank it away he found it oddly resistant to be taken. Taking a closer look, he found that the ghastly flesh had grown over most of the card like a tumor, with one final tug he pulled the card free as well as bringing a shower of guts and ooze with it. Flicking the remnants of gore from the card, he stuck in one of his suit’s pockets before turning to Guin and nodding. When they reached the entrance to the room, they found Hackett looking far worse then when they left him, his skin a pale gray with deep bags under his bloodshot eyes.

“Christ he wasn’t losing near enough blood to feel any serious effects this fast.” Guin commented as he took a knee next to Hackett.

Hackett coughed, flecks of blood landing on the mans chest, “I…it feels like there’s something in me, wanting to get out. I want to vomit but I can’t, every second seems to drag on for an eternity.”

Adrian had never seen anything like this, they’d need a proper doctor to diagnose this. His basic medical training never extended to something like this. Kneeling down on the other side of, Adrian hooked his arms under Hackett and started to lift him in time with Guin but had to stop when Hackett started screaming in pure agony.

“AHH JESUS MY CHEST WANTS TO BURST! I CAN FEEL IT – CRAWLING OUT!” Hackett screamed as a swelling growth appeared at the base of his throat. Blood began to pour out of the man’s mouth like a fountain as the growth slowly made it’s way up his neck until leathery tentacles started to claw their way out of his mouth. Hackett’s eyes went wide as he saw the limbs began to spout from his maw, it’d be the last thing the man saw before the top of his head cracked backwards as the familiar tumorlike growth that affected all the abominations grew out of the man’s throat.

Adrian stepped back in horror, even with the Covenant’s brutality, he’d never seen anything like this in his life. He thought these _things_ couldn’t get any worse, but the transformation was…it was the first time he’d felt sick to his stomach in a long time. He didn’t have time to put the poor bastard down before Guin did it for him, a series of quick bursts to the tumor stopped Hackett’s body from fully becoming twisted and grotesque. The two stood in silence, staring at the corpse of their comrade with Adrian unsure of how to console his squadmate. He was an outsider in this group, he doubted his words could have any significant affect on the man other than seeming like shallow platitudes. Wordlessly Adrian worked on unsealing the door, leaving Guin to his emotions – whatever they may be.

Pressing the final button on his TACPAD, mechanisms within the door began to hiss as they unlocked. Guin took point, standing in front of Adrian as the door began to slowly grind open, this unknown membrane having seemingly spread into the inner workings of the lab. They didn’t even get a step forward before Adrian’s visor became splattered with blood, quickly wiping it off he saw Guin’s body falling down to the ground as trio of lightly armed abominations opened fire at the end of the hall. Ducking to the side, he took one glance at Guin’s body to see it riddled with holes and a gaping wound where his face would’ve been. Swearing to himself he peaked from his cover to pepper the creatures down the end of the hall while trying to figure a way out of this mess.

“Pak, it’s Kasporov, I’m in some deep shit here. Any help you can give?”

Silence responded

“Pak?”

Nothing.

“God fucking dammit, didn’t imagine I’d die in a place like this. Guess life just loves to deal out shitty hand after shitty hand.” It didn’t take a genius to figure out what the likely outcome was, he was only one man and if the rest of the squad didn’t make it, he didn’t seem much hope unless some god given miracle appeared.

Peering out he opened fired once more, the creatures growing closer with every one of their shambling steps. The inhuman corpse fired in retaliation sending Adrian back behind the wall. He had grenades but using those would definitely cause those hell sacs to burst opening unleashing god knows what into the tight corridor. Prepared to pop-out once more, he stopped as he heard a familiar sound, a sound that _shouldn’t_ be here.

Plasma fire.

Followed by blood-boiling inhuman speech, a warbling growl that meant a damn elite was here. Numerous possibilities ran through his mind, the Covenant had shown up while he was down here, forcing their way into this quarantined zone for God knows why. Talon had acquired the help of some stranded Covenant forces; it was a possibility that for every encounter him and Overwatch had with the Covenant there were more slipspace ruptures happening unbeknownst to them. Or there was some other reason, but the coincidence that an elite and this parasite were in the same lab…it filled Adrian’s gut with fear. Either something was being worked on here for the Elites to use on humans, or…or it existed back home…and had come through a slipspace rupture with the elite. If this spreading parasite could make it onto the surface, if it WAS on the surface in his Earth…then the repercussions could be… he needed to get back now more than ever.

But first things first, he needed to survive, he needed to escape, and most importantly, he needed answers. Though usually a dead split-jaw was just as good in his book, the situation was desperate and if he could get answers, well… all the better. Aiming from behind the wall, he saw only one shambling abomination left, with precise shots he blew off the legs of the creature leaving it horrendously crippled. Before stepping out from his cover, he kneeled down beside Hackett and Guin removing their dog tags and searching for any personal effects that loved ones might want. The only thing he found was a picture of Hackett held deep in the embrace of what Adrian presumed was his loved one, tucking the picture away he’d give it to Vickers for delivery. Standing back up he began walking through the hallway covered in the pulsating membrane, until he reached the pathetic abomination at which point he gave it a brutal stomp. It’s body breaking underneath his heel like rotten cardboard, its chest cavity caving as rotten guts and blood splattered his gear. He kept up his guard waiting for the elite to make its appearance but it never did; perhaps it wasn’t expecting survivors and wanted to get the jump on him.

“I know you’re there split lip. I’d recognize those fucking ear grating war cries of yours anywhere. We got our issues but down here we’ve got our own war going on, if either of us want to escape to kill another day, we’re going to have to pucker up.” Adrian called out, swapping a fresh mag into his assault rifle as he inched down the corridor, boots squelching in the oozing tissue.

At first he thought it wouldn’t show itself, that it’d move back into obscurity waiting to backstab him as he passed. To his mild surprise it did show itself, geared in a slick purplish-black armor with no skin showing except it’s rugged leather hands, it was Special Operations.

Though to his genuine surprise it spoke, with a clarity he wasn’t used to though he supposed he was more of a shoot on sight type guy.

“Hmm…interesting. I was not expecting to find an imp here in this den of humans, they did not seem to be a part of your UNSC.”

“Tsch - you got that right, but enough talk. What the fucks going on? Based on your lack of surprise I assume you know.”

“Your foolish kind, USNC or not, has meddled with affairs beyond your comprehension. You brought the parasite to your world, a land ripe for it to grow. The Flood will stop at nothing to consume all sentient life upon this planet, to expand its knowledge to new heights.”

“The flood, that’s what these fucking abominations are? How do we stop it? I was thinking of cutting the air flow, the vents don’t lead to the surface so without any recyclers working they’d suffocate.”

It let out what Adrian could only assume was a dark chuckle, “Oh how foolish you are, a single flood spore could eradicate a species. They have not lived for an untold millennium on pure luck, they adapt faster then either of us could understand. Though there is a way I can halt the flood.”

“Alright…so what is it?” Adrian eyed the alien cautiously. Just the sight of the freak was setting his blood ablaze, but he was angry…not stupid. He knew there was only one way of even the slightest chance of getting out of here, especially if this hinge jaw was telling the truth. Not that he really doubted the claims to annihilate this flood, humanity was losing for a reason and it wasn’t for a lack of trying. 

“Why should I share my survival with you human? I plan to eradicate these pests not for you, but for the survival of my people. You humans brought these creatures back from the brink of extinction, why should the folly of your kin ensure your survival.”

“Because I’ve got the only way out of here,” He patted his pocket where the keycard was, “not to mention outside of this lab is a whole army waiting on my return. You leave without me…and you’re not going to make it far before you get a slow, undignified death at the hands of ONI.” He lied, not that the split jaw would know it. Besides if it knew it wasn’t on his Earth or where the Covenant existed, it’s willingness to help would be unlikely.

They stood in terse silence before the alien spoke, “For the prudent survival of us both, it seems we’ll have to work together. The Flood are versatile, resistant beasts, there isn’t much one can do for assured destruction, but the Gods are own our side, for the humans here have brought with them the necessary tool for there destruction. A Borer slipspace drive from my crashed ship resides here, by sabotaging its purpose the result will not be the creation of a slipspace gate but rather the total and utter annihilation of everything within its blast radius.”

“Christ…we did something like that above Reach to take care of a supercarrier but to use it on ground? The destruction will be unheard of here.”

“If only that were so, the size of the slipspace gate depends on the drive, sadly my ship was only a scouting vessel meaning that while the destruction of this facility and the area beyond is assured, any damage equivalent that of Reach is not possible. Enough talk, the stench of the parasite grows near.”

Adrian had no qualms with that, “Alright, they’ll likely be storing your drive in ‘Restricted Storage’ which ain’t far from here. We set the drive to blow, head to security and unlock the main exit, then get the hell out of here.”

Adrian and his new companion traveled through the abandoned lab in relative silence, the sound of the elite’s footsteps clanging throughout hallways drowning out any other sound save for the distant screams of the flood. When they came across a lone flood, the elite’s plasma repeater cut it down before Adrian could even get any shots on target. Thinking back to his earlier thoughts on the matter it seemed he was right, conventional weapons were to be frank, shit against the flood. The Covenant though with their weaponized war crimes could cut through the flood with ease, once more he cursed not bringing any of the covvie arsenal with him.

Right before the entrance to ‘Restricted Storage’ aimlessly wandered a group of flood, without any of sacs nearby Adrian pulled one of the plasma grenades he had and tossed it forward. It stuck to the flood nearest them and screeched an unholy shriek before the grenade exploded in a molten miasma of blue plasma. It completely eradicated the flood it was glued too as well as most other flood around it, only two were left but were quickly put down by Adrian and the elite.

When they entered into the storage room, it was packed to the brim with a myriad of junk and equipment though considering this was supposed to be restricted he imagined that at least some of it had to hold some hidden value. Ignoring those thoughts he turned back to the goal at hand, which in reality wasn’t hard to find. Laying deadest in the center of the room was a large, round cylinder, easily identifiable as covvie tech.

As the elite neared the slipspace drive, more cries of incoming flood echoed through the open door, it turned to Adrian, “Hold them off, I will need time to prep the drive.” With hose said it turned back to the drive, kneeling on one knee before yanking a panel off the Borer drive, leaving Adrian to try and prepare a quick makeshift defense. Quickly scanning the piles of junk, he found what appeared to be prototype mines. Grabbing a handful, he dashed to the open door and tossed them out into the hallways, pressing the activation buttons in the center of each on. Taking a knee behind the edge of the door, he raised his assault rifle and waited from the first of their forms to come into view.

When the unnatural brownish skin came into his sights, he opened fired from behind his angled cover. It took an entire clip before the thing went down in a mess of tangled limbs, though it was far from over as at least half a dozen more walked into the hallway, a few running at breakneck speed. Slamming the door controls with his fist, the door closed tight as the corridor rumbled with the sound of exploding mines. Another round of explosions as the flood hit the final set of mines, he opened up the door with one hand while aiming his assault rifle with the other. As soon as the door cracked opened and smoke began to poor into the room, he blindly fired into thick fumes, laying down a heavy barrage of weapons fire. He didn’t let up until his magazine was empty, at which point he ducked behind cover and reloaded. Peering through the thinning smoke, he spied two flood forms still standing and both armed with assault rifles. They opened fire on him with unnatural reflexes, he tried to duck back behind the wall but a burst of fire clipped the side of his helmet sending him sprawling onto his back. When the bullets hit he could hear his visor cracking and feel the shards exploded inside his helmet like razors cutting across the side of his face. He growled, his visor was still intact though he’d lost some H.U.D functionality, more of an inconvenience than anything else but the pain was vicious. As he pushed himself up he unloaded into the last two flood, his accuracy failing as blood washed over his eye. He tried to blink it out but kept the offensive up, only stopping to switch to his side arm and finish the last of the flood forms.

When they crumpled like sacks of cement, he let out a sigh of relief as his hand brushed over part of his fractured visor. It’d take more than just a couple bullets to do any real damage to ODST armor, though it didn’t mean it was invincible by any stretch. He had to stifle the urge to wipe away the blood, taking off your helmet in a combat zone was dumb enough but when these infectious fucks were spread throughout the lab? No chance.

“You almost done over there hinge-head? Don’t know how much longer I can keep these things off our ass.” Adrian called back, keeping his eyes peeled for any more flood.

“Yes. I’m just about finished.” It replied as it stood up, meeting Adrian at the door. “Where to now?”

“Security, from there we can override the locks on the exit and make our way out of here.” He said as he scanned the hallway before leading the way towards the room his squadmates had previously occupied. “So how exactly are we detonating this? Timed fuse or some sort of remote detonation?”

“Remotely, I’ll set it off when I feel we’re an adequate distance away.” It said coolly as they passed the main entrance where Adrian had first encountered the flood. In the hallway of blood were a handful of meandering flood that were caught unaware and promptly dealt with before the duo moved onto the security room. Upon entering the room, he was unsurprised to see blood smearing the floors of the room, though it didn’t stop a pained grimace from forming. Realizing that the bodies wouldn’t just disappear he thought back to the flood in the hallway they’d just cut through. Shaking his head at the absolute turn to insanity this mission had taken, he moved up towards the console.

Swiping his hand across the console, he pressed a number of keys before inserting the security chiefs ID into the console. A large flashing warning appeared on the screen, **“ARE YOU SURE YOU WISH TO UNLOCK ENTRANCE SEALS DURING LOCKDOWN?”** Affirming his choice, he took the key back from the console.

Turning to face his hated companion he half expected to be forced into a final confrontation with it now that his half was done, “Alright, now we just gotta get the hell out of here.” Instead it simply nodded and made its way to the exit.

Walking beside the elite, he stopped by each of the bodies they’d killed on the way in and yanked the dog tags from the overgrown flesh of the flood. Turning the corner right in front of them something new greeted them, a massive, bloated flood that wabbled on two stubby legs that didn’t seem to bend right. At the sight of them it stopped and burst like an overfilled balloon letting a dozen of the flood spores into the world and blasting Adrian with a thick coating of it’s gore. Adrian and the elite opened fired on the scrabbling parasites, managing to pop any that got to close. A couple dashed under their legs and into the corpses of Adrian’s former squadmates, sending the dead flood into spasming seizures before they begun to abruptly rise, though they didn’t get far before the elite put them down with a few blasts from its repeater.

They jogged until they were in the entrance corridor, the door still closed but now able to be opened with a simple touch of a button. They raced towards the door, Adrian slamming the button as the air-tight seals undid their emergency actions. As the doors unsealed with the pace of a handicapped seal, a noise upon them brought their weapons to bear on the ceiling only to be met with nothing. The noise continued and Adrian noticed the vent in the ceiling too little too late. It burst open with an explosive crash, stunning the elite and breaking its shields before two long arms reached out from the ruptured vent and swung against them. Adrian managed to roll out of the way, but the elite still stunned was struck with a fierce blow. Despite the initial bombastic entrance of the flood, it frankly went down like a little bitch, all bark and no bite Adrian joked to himself. Trotting over to the elite, it pushed itself up while shaking it’s head, that’s when Adrian noticed the tiniest splotch of dark violet blood on the tile floor. The elite put a taloned hand to it’s neck before pulling it away to see what they both expected, dark blood.

He’d seen what had happened to Hackett, he could put two and two together, sure those small shits were the main carriers but like the elite had said…the flood are adaptive…resilient. He took two steps back and brought his rifle to his shoulder.

“I had hoped I would seen my kin once more, but such is not the fate the Gods have fit to see me with.” The elite spoke as he turned up towards the ceiling, looking to where the sky would be could they see it before it turned to stare directly at Adrian, eyes burrowing into his. “You’ll have your window imp, I am a Sangheili of my word. On the blood of my forefathers, I’ll fight these flood parasites until the end, when I feel on the verge of losing myself…I’ll detonate the bomb. All I ask is for one request.”

At first Adrian almost scoffed, laughed in its face at it’s ludicrous request and tell it to shove it’s request where the sun don’t shine, but he didn’t. Deep down he felt compelled to listen and take its request; though later he would justify it as simply being practical to ensure his survival so the elite wouldn’t kill them both right then and there…deep down there was something more compelling him. He nodded silently.

“Don’t let my name fade into the abyss, the greatest shame that become a Sangheili in death is to be forgotten. Whether it’s feared among enemies or honored among kin…I don’t want to be forgotten to time.”

They stood in silence for a second before the reoccurring shriek of the flood broke their stare down, Adrian briefly looked to the end of the hallway where the flood would no doubt begin to swarm from before turning back towards the elite.

“My name Vras’ Vandeltheam…remember me.” It spoke before it pulled an energy sword from its waist and bring forth a burst of crackling plasma with a flick of it’s wrist. Adrian stared before running towards the elevator, he practically stumbled into it and slammed the button pointing up. Before the doors fully closed he spied Vras tearing into a dozen flood with the elegance one would expect of a master swordsman. As the doors closed, he could feel the welcoming rumble of the elevator as it made it’s way up to the surface. Maybe it was just the relief of putting the worst behind him, or maybe there was some voodoo magic, but the trip felt significantly shorter on the way up then it did going down. Soon the crackling of his comms filled his ears, an unimaginably welcomed sound compared to the dreadful cries that seemed to be the only noise in the labs.

_“Trying again, this is Private First-Class O’Connell with Overwatch. If there is anyone still alive, please respond. Over.”_

Holding down his overwhelming relief, he spoke as calmy as he could, “This is Kasporov, I’m coming up from the labs requesting immediate evac. I don’t have much time before this place is going up in one big fucking bang. Over.”

_“Roger that, glad to have you back Kasporov.”_

At those final words that he’d make it out of here, he let out a guttural yell of relief, screaming at the top of his lungs and banging the metal confines of the elevator in sheer primal joy. When the elevator finally came to a stop and opened to reveal the setting sun drowning the Mongolian landscape in a cool dusk, he ran out of it like a bat out of hell. His legs pounding with each step, his breath ragged and body sore, out in the plains ahead of him an Orca landed with its back hatch open. A heavily armed squad in military hazmat suits waved him on, urging him with yells of support as he ran across the open land. When he reached the Orca they helped pull him in as it began to take off, he wasn’t even given a breather before a heavy pressured blast of chemical water was showered over him washing what felt like gallons of blood, grime, and indescribable ooze off of him. Taking a seat on the edge of the Orca that gave him a majestic view of the Mongolian steppe, he finally took off his helmet drinking in the fresh air with massive gulps, savoring the crisp cool air. Though he grimaced in pain as the razor-like cuts from his shattered visor flared as his adrenaline died down. Wiping away the blood from his face, his eyes widened in surprise as a faint rumbling could be seen on the ground below before in a split-second a massive area was encircled in the familiar spherical tear of a slipspace rupture. Though true to Vras’ words, there was something off about it, the typical steady deep purple was instead a hectic, jittering blue that seemed one breath away from complete instability.

It was there and gone faster than a flash, but in it’s wake was simply…nothing. A massive hole in the ground where the lab existed just now ceased to exist. Having spent a fair amount of time in the lab, Adrian felt he had gained a decent understanding of its size and the new hole was several times larger than the entirety of the facility. Though having experienced the living hell that was the flood, he felt that was getting off easy in comparison to the damage that might’ve existed had they escaped. 

Mutterings of disbelief and awe sounded from behind him with someone speaking up, “What the hell was that? What happened down there sir?”

“Pray to whatever God you believe in that you never have to know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you've all been enjoying the story so far! I've been glad to be hearing how much you've all be enjoying it which gives me more motivation to continue writing. Please leave your thoughts, comments, or review because I enjoy hearing your thoughts, ideas, and general comments on the story so far! Anyways stay safe and hope all is well.


	29. Where is my Mind?

**Skies Above Spain**

_“In shocking news, a crater a quarter the size of Rhode Island has appeared in Mongolia with government agents through leaning towards some type of unregistered superweapon-”_ The radio droned in the background as Adrian sat on the edge of the Orca, with a hastily drawn bandage across his face and his legs dangling off the edge; watching as deep blue ocean passed under him.

Quarantine procedures were still in place though it was assumed among the crew aboard that if Adrian had been infected, he would’ve shown signs of turning. Still better safe than sorry and Adrian couldn’t blame them, hell once the adrenaline wore off he was afraid of his own body, what it would feel like to have something grow inside you. So he was fine with whatever containment protocols they wanted to use; he just wanted to put this nightmare behind him. Staring off into the ocean currents his mind drifted to Vras’, he was conflicted to say the least, not about his feelings towards the Sangheili and the Covenant neither Adrian nor Vras’ made any attempt to hide their disdain, but with regards to its request. The elites entire culture was based around honor, though on a more personal level Adrian could connect with the fear of being forgotten, dying alone, it’s what haunted him about Chloe since he learned of his sister’s fate. Lightly slapping himself he pushed the thoughts from his mind, if they still tugged on his mind later, he would just let Angela pick his brain later. Having a kinder soul like hers put in her two cents would be a welcomed change.

The sound of crumpling hazmat material drew his attention to someone sitting next to him, he couldn’t see the face behind the heavy gear but the voice revealed it as Vickers, “Sorry to leave you to the wolves but I’ve been on the horn with Winston trying to explain what happened.”

“Nah, I should be the one apologizing…I…I failed to keep them safe.” Adrian said with uncertainty as he pulled out the dog tags from a secured pouch on his body, passing them off to Vickers.

“Ah… Well people always like to say, ‘They knew what they were getting into’ right?” Vickers tried to grin but couldn’t bring anything close to it.

“No one knew what they were getting into down there, but I should’ve done better.”

“Don’t blame yourself mate, you said it yourself, no one had any clue what would happen. Can’t blame yourself for a shit hand.”

“Easier than said than done, though I’m sure you understand. Ah though I almost forgot, managed to get this off Hackett. Figured you’d know the right people to give it to.” Adrian remarked as he pulled the folded picture from a sperate pocket. Vickers gave a slight nod as they both stared out into the infinite blue. Adrian was content to just sit here, all things considered he thought he got off lucky but he also just felt so…tired. So drained. He’d tried to rest but whenever he shut his eyes all he could see was the blood, the monstrosities tearing through flesh, hear the wailing screams pierce his mind. So he’d stayed awake, as the others slept in shifts over the course of the long flight Adrian stayed awake, staring out of the ship like an eternal vigil damned to his duties. Below them the sea turned to cliffs then to man-mind brick and mortar as the Orca passed over the Gibraltar base before turning around to make it’s landing. When it landed, he was surprised to see a few more hazmat clad soldiers waiting for him, including Angela and her assistants in equally protective gear. Pushing himself off the back of the Orca his legs screamed in protest as they hit solid ground, despite feeling like jelly he trudged on shooting Ziegler a strained grin.

“I apologize for the protocols, but well we can’t risk anything.” She said with a slight smile.

“I understand Doc, do what ya’ gotta do.” Adrian spoke as he waved her concerns away.

“Luckily it won’t be long, you have shown any external symptoms, but we need to know if there’s anything hiding within you. This small device here, allows me to run a deep-tissue scan.” Angela held up a hand-held object that had a large metal front with a digital screen on the back. “Should there exist anything out of the ordinary we’ll see it here, though it’s doubtful there will be anything based on the information I’ve heard.”

Adrian absentmindedly nodded, the strain on his body as he stood here seemed to grow worse with every passing second, he just wanted to find a quiet place to pass out and get past this whole ordeal. He stood as Angela moved the scanner over every limb, slowly moving it up and around his body, methodically jotting down in her notes every minute. He couldn’t tell when she finished only that he was drawn back into focus when he felt her shaking his shoulder.

“You alright Adrian? I said your test came back clean.” She tilted her head, shooting him a curious glance.

“Huh? Oh thanks Doc, that’s a relief. Much obliged.” He went to move but a hand on his chest stopped him in his tracks.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You’ve been through quite the ordeal.”

He looked her dead in the yes, his voice taking on an unusual earnestness, “Really Angela, I’m fine. I just need some rest.”

Her eyes narrowed in doubt before she relented letting Adrian pass, he shambled past with a forced smile and a nod of his head. As he walked away from the disembarking Orca he could feel her eyes tracking him until he passed between a group of Overwatch personal. He paid her no mind, the only thing racing through his thoughts was the comforting embrace of sleep. Thankfully he encountered no one else on his path, when he entered his room he tossed took tossed his weapons onto rarely used bed in his room. He tried to get used to having something soft under his body, but despite his efforts it still felt unnatural to him after so many sights spent in UNSC cots or curled up in a muddy trench. He’d used it a few times only to find himself still feeling sleep deprived come morning and the sheets splayed across the bed like a tornado came through. So he stuck to the corner of the room, rough but familiar and right now as he eyed the bed, he realized that perhaps what he wanted more than rest was something familiar. He didn’t even strip himself of his gear before plopping himself in the corner of the room, laying his head back against the cool wall. Closing his eyes the horrors came back once more, the bodies around him bursting open, the bloated corpses shambling throughout the facility, the images didn’t stop but he couldn’t keep his eyes awake forever. Through sheer desperation he pushed on through the waking nightmares until his exhaustion was simply too much to resist, his mind succumbing to the appealing draw of sleep.

……….

………

Adrian groaned as he woke, his eyes cracking slightly as a torrent of light entered his vision. He’d felt different, more rested than he had in years; in fact he almost didn’t want to get up, the idea of just laying here in bed seemed more enticing than anything else.

Wait.

His eyes shooting open he sat up in bed, ruffled sheets falling off his body rocketed up. Looking around in confusion his first thought was that maybe someone had moved him to the bed, but there was no one else in the room, in fact, this wasn’t his room on the base at all…this was his room on Kholo. He was back home, the posters he’d hung up throughout his teenage years were exactly as he’d left them, the desk in the corner of his room still covered with miscellaneous junk. Jumping out of bed he went over to the window in his room and tore the curtains aside, stepping back in disbelief as he saw the home planet sprawling out before him. Towering skyscrapers of glass peppered the distance as a vast field of grass laid out before his view before sloping down into a bubbling creek. Other residential house laid around them as he took in the familiarity, an unknowable feeling tugging at his heart as his mind raced to the possibilities.

“If I’m here, then that means that…that…”

Footsteps stopped outside his door as his body twisted to the sound, a knock on the wooden panel as a soft voice spoke up.

“Jeez Adriana are you awake yet? Mom had breakfast ready five minutes ago!”

“N-n-no. This…” He muttered to himself, tears welling at the corner of his eyes. His mind told him to stop, but his heart urged him on, “Chloe? Is that you?”

A silent few seconds before the doorknob began to turn as the door was pushed open, entering through the door was a young girl with straight dark hair and deep brown eyes.

“Uh duh? Who else would he be?” She joked, a warm smile gracing her face.

He opened his mouth to speak though he knew words would fail to capture his feelings, nothing came out on than barely choked back sobs. He ran over embracing her in a tight hug, the familiar warmth washing over him like a soothing wave. Holding her tight he tried to speak once more, but still nothing came out. When he felt her arms wrap around him in a returned embrace, he felt his emotions breaking down, he truly thought he’d lost her to time. That he’d never be able to ask for her forgiveness, fix his mistakes. As he stood there, his senses slowly came back to him as she realized that he no longer felt a warm arm wrapped around his back but instead felt something slithering, coiling itself around his back. Pushing away from Chloe he found that her arms had been replaced with the parasitic tendrils of the flood, screaming he tried to move away but the tentacles only tightened their grasp around his body.

Screaming, shouting, cursing it seemed his words had no effect as he was forced to stare on in horror as blood started to pour from her mouth as a palpitating blob stretched under the skin of her throat, slowly inching its way up her neck as the blood continued to pour. Adrian tried to turn away, already knowing what would happen but no matter how much he tried he couldn’t, forced to watch as the tumor-like head of the flood tore from her neck showering Adrian in blood. He screamed, closing his eyes to shield himself from the horror until he felt the tendrils disappear from his bodies as his body felt weightless. Opening he found that he was no longer in his home on Kholo but in a vast, ethereal void of darkness. Voices echoed around him, those of Hackett, Guin, Pak, all screaming in agony as the flood changed them into abominations, mutated muscle tearing through their skin. The squad he took into those labs, that he was placed in charge of protecting were now wiped from existence, they wouldn’t even get their remains buried as their being was evaporated into nothingness.

The horror of himself being infected returned, the feeling of a parasite living deep within him slowly crawling its way out of his body. The agony as the flood spore tore through his eternal organs, no care for the pain it was inflicting, it’s only focus being on consuming it’s host. Adrian tried to scream, to yell out in pain, to howl out for forgiveness but he couldn’t as his throat tightened with the parasite. Tendrils slowly slithered up the inside of his throat, inching their way out of his body until they burst forth from his mouth wrapping themselves around his head as the flood spore continued its climb up his esophagus.

As soon as he felt the abomination was about to burst forth from his mouth, he opened his eyes for the third time, now screaming into another empty room. Looking around tentatively he saw that this was his room at Gibraltar, though he still wasn’t sure what was real as his heart raced in his chest. Sweat ran down his face as he stood up, wiping his face with his gloved hand he gave himself a firm slap to make sure he was awake. He winced at the stinging pain; a deep red handprint now emblazoned across his face. Sighing to himself he sat on the edge of the bed, nightmares were nothing new to him or any member of the UNSC really though most who made it past their first year of service usually learned to live with the constant dreams of dread and horror. He found himself having less since he came here, maybe because he knew he would wake up the next day but it seems the flood not only brought the existential dread from the war but added their own layer of hellish nightmares. His hopes of a comforting rest squashed he was left with nothing but terrors within his mind, placing his head in his hands he ran his fingers through his messy hair with resigned sigh.

“Mr. Kasporov, I must advise against self-inflicted pain, if there is an something bothering you there are plenty of personnel on the base who would be more than willing to listen. “

Adrian jumped a bit at the sudden sound of Athena’s voice, his already racing heart now seeming like it was going to burst out of his chest.

He took a deep breath before speaking, “This is going to sound like an odd question Athena, but am I awake?”

“My scanner’s indicate that you are very much awake though your body is unnaturally tense, is everything alright?”

The amount of fucking times he’d heard that question, he wanted to shoot the next person who asked that, “Yeah I’m fine, thanks Athena.”

“If you say so, though you should be aware that Winston has requested a report on the event in Mongolia. He requests that you send it as soon as you are able but stresses that you should take as much time as you require.”

“Fucking ape, yeah he’ll get his report soon.” He snarked before going over to the window in his room and sliding it open, taking a deep breath of the crisp ocean air before pulling out his pack of cigarettes. He stood there on the windows edge watching the smoke from his cigarette swirl in the wind and drift away, after a time he looked down to see a small pile of cigarettes piling up on the floor. Mentally chiding himself for losing track of time he flicked his current cigarette out the window before turning to looking at the holographic console aboard his desk. He despised reports, written usually it was left up to the gunny or god forbid ONI need their services, their handler, but exceptions exist for just about everything. Pushing himself off the wall he went over to the metal desk, plopping himself down in the cushioned seat before turning to the translucent display with one thought running through his mind, ‘How the fuck do I write this?’

* * *

“You’re absolutely positive that there was nothing else you could’ve done or any options available? I don’t want to question your methods, especially after showing some snippets of your encounter but…blowing up a part of Mongolia is…well…” Winston trailed off as looked down at the report once more, Adrian sparing no detail in what occurred in that accursed Talon laboratory. He didn’t fault the man for his actions, it was a miracle they managed to curb the parasite before it spread, but having spent the last few months with the man in front him, he knew that Adrian’s technique could be extreme to say the least. Though he couldn’t exactly chastise the man, his world was one that seemed a far off dystopian when compared to the comparatively idyllic Earth he had the fortune of living on. Nonetheless he felt it was his duty as the commander of Overwatch to instill some form of accountability, which is where Adrian’s less than amicable policies proved to be at odds with Overwatch’s general disposition, especially regarding enemy combatants.

Focusing back on the matters at hand, he looked up from the report to that very man standing across from him in his lab. The ODST still mostly decked out in his armor, his arms crossed as he leaned back against the far wall a scowl across his lips.

“Well in between watching my squad get cut down like flies and trying to survive a living fucking nightmare, I never really took the time to think if I could find the perfect little solution.” Adrian snapped, “Hell if anything I say we got pretty damn lucky, cause I’m not seeing any bunker busters or thermo-nuclear warheads laying about that could guarantee complete eradication of the flood.”

Winston winced at the man’s harsh rebuttal though he couldn’t deny it wasn’t deserved, the loss of so many Overwatch personnel had put a damper on base moral. He knew it had hit Fareeha hard, many of those men having served with her prior and like a complete buffoon he hadn’t accounted for Adrian’s own toll with having the men placed under his command.

“Ah- yes of course, well uh – I commend you for your work Mr. Kasporov.” He stammered, “But! If we can – uhmm – turn to other matters, I believe I have some good news!”

Adrian sighed, raising his eyebrow, “You gonna spit it out?”

“Yes yes, if you remember prior to your deployment to Korea, there was another prospective candidate that I had been eyeing.”

Adrian snorted as the memory as Winston’s smile fumbled at Adrian’s less than enthusiastic response, “Hard to forget a damn kid.”

“A bit young yes, but her work is exemplary! An absolute prodigy in every sense of the word, better yet she’s also been an active member of her community in Numbani! Striving for the betterment of her fellow man shows a strong initiative for good, it is why I believe she could be an invaluable asset for Overwatch. Not serving in any official capacity of course, she’s still a child and were not monsters after all, but she’s agreed to help us where she can!”

“And how that?”

“Well Lucio was brought on for his brilliantly unusual mind, bringing a creative eye to the theoretical sciences have already started to bore fruit. Efi though is a mechanical engineer at heart! She’s already built some brilliant robotic creations and if we hope to bring the science into a usable device, she’s vital to our efforts.” Winston could help but grin just thinking about the possibilities, to say he was ecstatic would be an understatement. Efi was an incredibly gifted child, he has not intentions to bring her into their war with Talon, but Overwatch has a number of peaceful operations as well which her work could be an invaluable asset to. Not to make light of Adrian’s situation but his needs very much overlapped with his own, acquiring the best and brightest minds from across the globe to help make the world a better place while also needing those same brilliant people to do the impossible.

Adrian huffed, “Well it’s not like I’ve got much say in the matter, my chances of returning home are entirely dependent on you and those you choose to work with. All I know is that those flood came from universe, not yours, not some random zombie universe but mine, and for all we know despite the time-fuckery of slip space that I can’t be sent back at the same time I left. So maybe by the time I get back the whole Earth is already infested, and I’ll have the joys of blasting my brains out as the last human on the planet.”

Winston didn’t have anything to respond with as everything Adrian said could be true, they’d already long established that slipspace tore through space-time and there was no consistency to when something could enter or leave that slipspace dimension. There was also no guarantee that they could work out to send Adrian back right as he left, he was working off theories he’d never even heard off until the ODST arrived. Despite that he wouldn’t let himself get discouraged, working up his voice he spoke with as much confidence as he could muster, “Though that may be, you have my guarantee I’ll get you back to your home as you left it.”

Adrian held his eyes for a minute of silence before leaning off the wall, “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, but I’ll admit the optimism is a nice change of pace from what I’m used to.” With that the interdimensional marine walked out of the lab leaving Winston to stew on his thoughts as he grabbed a ripe banana from nearby, rather pleased with how that conversation went. He didn’t dislike the man, though he’d admit that he found it quite baffling that some of the others had taken such a likening to the ODST. In his interaction with Adrian he always thought there was an underlying hostility though it seems it was either all in his imagination or Adrian simply directed it solely at him. Neither thought was very appealing though the latter less though. The ODST could be pleasant enough when he wanted to be, such as towards the end of their meeting but still for the life of him couldn’t imagine the hardened vet apparently having a soft spot for the rambunctious Miss Song.

When he’d get together with the old crew whenever he had a moment to spare, conversation would sometimes steer to the latest gossip on base, a fact that he would reluctantly admit was a guilty pleasure of his. Hence where he learned of the brotherly affection the man seemed to have for the young Korean mech fighter, though to his greater surprise he found that Shimada, McCree, and Ziegler had also taken an enjoyment to the outlanders residence on base. McCree was the least surprising considering his background, but the rather reserved cyborg and mostly pacifistic doctor were both an unexpected turn of events. Though the good doctors affection for the man seemed to be growing in between the get-togethers with the old crew; an ape he may be but blind he was not

Turning around to the screens at his back, he turned them on before calling out, “Athena show me the news footage regarding Mongolia.” With a silent response the screens flipped towards dozens of various station coverage of the incident, a massive smoking hole smack dab in the middle of Mongolia, “Boy this is going to be hard to explain.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoy this latest chapter because I sure as hell don't know how I feel about it though its hard to be objective about your own writing. I rewrote this chapter at least three times, first time was just an incohesive mess that had so much tonal whiplash it would've given a jack-in-the-box a broken neck. Second time was an unbearable angst mess that I could barely recognize as my own work, and the rest of the rewrites was a series of wildly different paths this chapter could've ended on. Anyway thanks for the support and remember to leave your thoughts, comments, and ideas because I very much enjoy reading your thoughts on the story so far. Have a good week everybody!


	30. In the Twilight and In the Dawn

**Watchpoint Gibraltar, Iberian Peninsula, Europe**

Adrian sat alone in the workshop on base at the dead of night tinkering with the wiring in his helmet, a light jazzy melody playing from a rusted radio on the edge of the table. It’d been about a week since he’d discussed his future with Winston, since then two things have largely occupied his time. As soon as Hana had returned from Korea, she’d seemed in higher spirits than usual if that was at all possible, apparently following his advice she’d requested an extension in Korea to visit her parents. It seemed the recent rumors of a New Overwatch have began to bring her parents around on the idea of their young daughter serving in a military outfit, hoping to make them proud the first thing she did when he her was to demand they get back to training. Something he was more than happy to oblige as his nightmares still haven’t subsided or shown any signs of waning, hence his current late night foray, so any excuse to take his mind of the troubles was a welcomed reprieve in his books.

The second is what he was currently working on now, it didn’t take him long after returning to find that his visors condition would only worsen if he didn’t fix it. Luckily a quick conversation with Bridgette revealed that the visor would be easily replaceable, though Adrian would have to fix internals. No longer pumped with adrenaline he found that the H.U.D around the shattered panels had a tendency to glitch out, the severity growing with each passing day. So when he awoke in a cold sweat tonight he figured there was little else to do other than trying to put his gear back in working order

Carefully rearranging a thin wire across the panels within his helmet, he was almost finished when something clanged behind him causing him to jump and the wire to spark, sending a painful shock down his fingertips.

“God damned _bylat_ _ubl'udak_ ,” He swore as he shook his fingers before turning to look behind him, surprised to see the good doctor Ziegler standing there trying and failing to hide a laugh behind her hand.

“I’ll take it those weren’t compliments on my graceful steps?” She joked as she nudged a stray can out of the way with her foot, presumably what she bumped into when walked in here.

“It might help to think that they were, though if you don’t mind me asking, what are you doing here? This isn’t the place I imagine you spend a lot of nights, unless you’re meeting up for some late-night escapades.” He jested as she walked over, practically falling into one of the empty seats by him.

“Long day in the clinic; our base keeps growing but the number of assistants I have does not. Despite how exhausted my body is, my brain feels like its running on overdrive, so I figured that taking a stroll through in the cool air would help to calm my overactive mind. When I saw the faint light coming from the workshop, I wondered who else was dealing with the late-night insomnia and so here I am.”

“Sounds tough Doc, have you tried prying the big guy for any relief? At the least he should realize that a clinic is one of the most vital parts to running a military operation, if the doctors get overwhelmed well then the base’s output is going to suffer.”

She gave a tired nod, “I had planned to today but well things happened, though I already have Athena reminding me to talk to him tomorrow. In the meantime…” Ziegler trailed off as she looked around the room before settling on Adrian’s helmet.

Adrian followed her eyes to his nearly finished helmet, “Curious?”

Sitting up in her chair, she nodded. Technology was a double-edged sword for her, she was fine with the science of it, writing the equations and integrating it into her medical research such as with the Caduceus Staff. When it came time to repair her staff or required any degree of hands-on work…well she felt completely out of her element. She knew that they were two vastly different fields of works though she couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought of a brilliant bio-medical researcher struggling to fix her comparatively simple data-pad. Despite this she always found the practical work fascinating, especially with the unusual technology Adrian brought from his world. Speaking of unusual, she focused momentarily on the music filling the air, the somber tones of a heart wrenching saxophone drifting in the wind. Not the type of music she would expect of the hardened veteran in front of her only reinforcing the growing curiosity of the man that came to them only a few months ago. She’d ask him later if she remembered but for now her attention was on the memorable helmet in front of her.

“Well I was just about finishing up when you made your entrance.” He said as he bolted a metal plate back in place before picking it up in his hands and passing it off to her. 

She looked it over with a curious eye, “It’s heavier than I thought.”

“It is, though when attached to the rigid armor it lightens the load a bit. Don’t think it’s expected to run out into battle with nothing but your helmet and a pair of skivvies.” He remarked, lightly laughing at the thought.

Angela giggled as she tapped the glass, “I have a question though, I assume that the helmet is built to be hands-free, so how do you make your faceplate transparent?”

“Well…you just kinda…” He awkwardly nodded his chin, “I’ve been doing it so long it just comes second nature. Why don’t you put in on and try it for yourself?” Adrian offered.

She shot him a surprised glance, he’d been quite protective of his gear once he got it back, even when it’s been damaged he never gave the entire suit to Bridgette instead preferring to do most repairs himself if he could. Even though it’s a relatively minor action, to have him so easily offer his gear was a rather pleasant surprise.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah why not, besides we can say it’s a test run to see if the systems are running right.”

Adrian watched with mild amusement as she undid her hair to put on the helmet, the larger size of the helmet causing it to be an awkward fit over the petite doctors head. Holding onto the sides to keep it in place, she looked around the room swirling back and forth in her chair.

“It’s very strange, I’m never used a virtual display before so seeing all the data presented in front of me is oddly surreal.”

He nodded, “Yeah it takes a bit of getting used to, especially once you’re in the field it’s expected that you can access all relevant field data from your helmet’s display.”

“Though its far more comfortable than I thought it would be.”

“One of the few things amenities the UNSC gave us was comfortable gear, which is a blessing considering we’d often be in these suits for weeks at a time.”

“Is that why there’s an odd odor to it?” She managed to work the depolarization of the helmet revealing her wide grin that turned to contagious laughter as she saw Adrian’s stunned face. Removing the helmet, she handed it back to Adrian, still trying to stifle her laughter.

“Pay back for your either comments?” She offered with a wide smile.

“For all you know those could’ve been compliments, all Russian sounds cruel so there’s a chance.” He said as he began to laugh as well before wincing slightly, the cuts on his face had healed for the most part leaving a series of light scares running across his cheek.

“Is your wound still bothering you?”

“Not really, mostly only notice them if I yawn or in this case, laugh.”

“Here let me check them real fast, I’m sure its nothing but one can never be to sure.” She said as her demeanor became that of the stern doctor, her eyes steeling as she scooted closer in her chair. Placing her hands around his face she leaned in close to examine the scar tissue, lightly running one hand down the side of his face. Adrian tried to suppress the jolt of feeling it sent down his back as her fingers caressed his face with a softness he was unaccustomed too. As soon as it started it was over, leaving Adrian with an odd mixture of relief and wanting, stuffing those thoughts to the back of his mind he cleared his head before turning to face the doctor.

“Like I thought, nothing to worry about though I expect you’ll still be feeling some light soreness for the next couple days.”

“Much obliged Doc.” Turning the helmet over in his hands, he stared at the reflection of himself eyeing the scars that lined his face. Back home Barbie used to say that scars were great for the sex appeal as long as they weren’t on your face, well he’d never had a metric to base that off of until now. The next time he saw the foul-mouthed Aussie he’d make sure to let him know if his theory held true in reality.

He heard a yawn from coming from beside him as a chair slid across the concrete floor, “I think my body’s calling it a day, _Gute Nacht_ Adrian.” She nodded her head, a warm smile on her lips as he left the workshop.

“ _Spokoynoy nochi_.” He waved to her retreating form, leaning back in the chair he felt a heaviness beginning to pull on his own eyelids. Twirling the helmet in his hands, he put it on to run a diagnostic check while trying to ignore the lingering smell of lavender and lilies that sent a familiar feeling down his back.

The droning sound of machinery filled his head as he came to consciousness, Adrian tried to shut his eyes tighter before relenting and slowly cracking his eyes open. It was then he realized he felt the cold metal resting against his cheek and a tightness in his neck, slowly adjusting to his surroundings he found that he’d fallen asleep at the workbench. For the first time in months he’d had a night completely unmolested with dreams of war or death, a blessing in its own right that seemed to be offset by the awful soreness in his muscles. Stretching his arms until he felt a satisfying pop in his shoulders, he pushed himself away from the table while swiping his gear from the bench. Checking his gear as he walked out, he almost bumped into someone on the way out, a brief apology almost reaching his lips before he saw who it was.

“Hmph, ‘bout time you got off that lazy ass of yours.” Torbjorn huffed as he looked Adrian over with a critical eye.

“Nothing better to do than watch me all morning old man? Don’t you have a snow white to save with your six brothers or did they finally get sick of your shit?”

“Everyone else may be goin’ soft on you, but I’m still waiting to fling ass back to that hellhole you crawled out of.” Torbjorn growled.

“That makes two of us.”

“One wrong move and I’ll put your ass in its place.”

“Sorry but you have to be about this tall to get on the ride to kick my ass.” Adrian said as he waved his hand a few inches about Torbjorn’s bright bald scalp, “Don’t worry though champ, give it a couple years and you’ll grow up real big and strong.”

Torbjorn stared him down for a few seconds before turning away, ignoring Adrian’s attempts at riling the dwarf up. Adrian scoffed as he went back to exiting to the workshop with his helmet tucked under his arm. Walking through the base he made a quick stop off to his room to toss the helmet onto his bed before heading to the cafeteria, the rumbling in his gut growing louder with every passing minute. Entering the room he spied a mostly open table only occupied by the one and only cowboy. Passing by the line-up of food, Adrian stacked himself a hearty plate of eggs, sausages, flapjacks, and an orange, the tantalizing smells practically making his mouth salivate at the thought. Sliding his tray across the table across from Jesse, he gave the cowboy a quick nod before settling down and digging in.

“Thinking you got enough there pal?” McCree grinned.

“I’ve found its best to never question a starving man.”

“Fair enough, though I gotta apologize Mongolia. Awful breakfast chitchat but once the word came out that the place was crawling with hell knows what, the main force got pulled out.” Jesse explained as he took a large bit of fluffy pancake.

Adrian waved him off, “No harm no foul.” They continued to eat in amicable silence until Adrian looked up to spy the cowboy committing a cardinal sin of food…no that would imply that enough heathens enjoy it for it to be taken into consideration. This…he’d never seen such a travesty.

“McCree – did you just put hot sauce on your god damn flapjacks?”

Jesse shot him a blank look, “What?”

“What’s so wrong with syrup that you’d resort to that utter obliteration of your tastebuds. Unless…don’t tell me that maple syrup doesn’t exist here.” A look of horror drawing across his eyes.

The cowboy chuckled, “It lives on just fine, but you’ve never seen hot sauce on a pancake before? It’s just carbs in a patty so I figure might as well make it savory.”

“But that’s the thing, it’s not just carbs, it’s a damn flapjack man. It’s meant to be sweet, what if I put that same hot sauce in an empty pastry.”

He pondered it for a second before shrugging, “Might be tasty.”

“Jesus christ you’re a lost cause.”

The sound of another tray of food hitting the table brought their attention to the cyborg ninja taking a seat next to Adrian with a far more modest plate, “ _Konnichiwa_ , it seems I have decided to settle at an interesting time. What is the topic of discussion?”

McCree spoke first to give himself some early justification, “I’m just trying to eat my pancakes amigo, instead I’m bein’ verbally assaulted this fella over here.”

“Nah you don’t get to consider yourself innocent in this crime against humanity.” Adrian argued back, “Alright, hypothetical here Shimada. You get yourself some pancakes for breakfast right, what do you put on them?”

The Japanese man didn’t waste a second before answering, “Usually nothing though I feel that is not the answer you seek. On occasion I use syrup, though I have to ask if this is related to Jesse’s acquired taste for certain foods.”

Adrian slammed his palm down on the able, “Hah! Look at this Shimada, the man is putting hot sauce on his god damn pancakes, who the hell does that?”

McCree looked like he’d already tuned out the conversation as he went back to eating his breakfast while Genji stared silently at the plate decked with the cowboy’s unusual palette/

Eventually the cyborg spoke, “Japan has what many cuisines that outsiders would consider odd, though nothing I’ve seen quite lives up the concoction our friend has made.”

Adrian started cackling as McCree sighed, “Why do I even bother.”

“Ah lighten up. Tell you what, lets double-down on the shooting range later, I lose and drinks are me, but if you lose then you have to double that massive fucking bill you left me last time.” Adrian offered, still a bit miffed at the tab the cowboy had managed to rack up despite his light-weight tolerance.

Jesse grinned, “Now you’re speaking my language.”

“An interesting proposal, I am no longer one for drinks or gambling, but I would be remiss if I said that I didn’t wish to test my skills against yours.” The cyborg spoke.

“None of the vices of life?”

Genji shook his head, “In a past life I would have relished such rewards but looking back I realize the life I wasted in its opulence. Displays of prowess however still hold great interest to me.”

The cowboy spoke up, “Well it wouldn’t feel right to play for something you can’t enjoy, besides not to knock your ranged skills but I think Adrian and I would have the advantage. So how about we keep it clean, simple, and easy; we arm wrestle for bragging rights.”

Such a simple thing that reminded him a lot of how UNSC marines would pass the time, “All right you’re on.”

“A wager like that I feel I must accept to preserve my honor.” Genji also agreed.

They began their brief tournament doing best two out of three, Adrian watched in amusement as Shimada and McCree dueled it out in front of him, each giving it their all. Seemingly equally matched until Shimada’s armed started to bend, it didn’t take long until the back of his metal armed slammed against the table. Though his defeat wouldn’t last long before he quickly quashed McCree in the second game. The final game Adrian wasn’t sure would ever end until by an ounce god’s grace Genji managed to beat the cowboy.

When it was his turn to face the ninja, he’d felt confident, during his service he’d arm wrestled so many times he felt he’d built a solid repertoire for winning. Placing his arm on the table he noticed that a small crowd had gathered around them, evidently coming to see who would claim the ultimate title of Overwatch arm wrestling champion of table number three. Genji’s grip was tight but Adrian’s push was just a touch stronger, pushing Shimada’s arm to the table and securing his first victory.

The second game had felt just as long as the first, though it seemed the cyborg had a pattern in place for winning the second game as Adrian felt a harsh pounding as the back of his hand hit the metal table. When they prepped for the final game, Adrian had surprised even himself as he slammed the ninja’s hand down not long after they started. Though he knew that while Shimada had given it his all, he’d also played an entire round prior but, in the end, it was all in good fun. Or so he said but that wouldn’t stop him from basking in the newfound glory, though that enjoyment wouldn’t last long as thundering footsteps that could only belong to one man reached their table.

“Ah a game of strength! Come spaceman, let us put our mettle to the test and see which one proves victorious.” Reinhardt said as he brought his elbow down on the cafeteria table with an echoing blow.

Adrian stared at the man’s biceps that looked like god damn oak trees had been melded onto the human body, the thought that they could snap a person in two like a twig never escaping his mind. “Nah fuck that, I forfeit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wanted to take a crack at a far more light-hearted chapter while also focusing on building the relationships Adrian has with the others, let me know your thoughts and hope you all had a great Halloween!


	31. Trouble's Coming

**Watchpoint Gibraltar, Iberian Peninsula, Europe**

Hana grunted as Adrian kicked her in the stomach after he’d battered away her attack with ease, sending her flying backwards. Swiftly rolling onto her feet she ground her teeth as she stared Adrian down, a couple days ago they’d moved on from weapons training to close quarters combat training and despite her own military training in Korea she’d found it exceedingly hard to land a hit on him. Even before they started she knew Adrian was in a league of his own, hence why she asked him to train her in the first place, but it took seeing his skills in person to truly understand. Despite being a mech pilot she was always proud of her physical prowess, in the Korean Army she’d usually scored high-marks on her evaluations and even in Overwatch she’d made constant efforts to keep herself primed for work outside Tokki, her mech. 

Pushing herself off the ground, she circled Adrian as her eyes scanned for an opening in his form. Dashing forward she spun before launching a kick upwards to his head, he caught her kick in his hand. Grinning she twisted herself in his grip bringing her other leg swinging as she broke free of his iron-fist. To her astonishment he swiftly ducked under her kick before swiping her legs out from under her as soon as her first leg touched the floor. She landed with an echoing thud as her back hit the gym mat, groaning as a dull pain grew where she laid.

“You advertise your attacks way too much pipsqueak, I can see what you’re going to do lightyears before you actually act on those thoughts.” Adrian spoke as slicked back his sweat-soaked hair, sticking out his hand to pull the kid up.

Gratefully she grabbed his outstretched hand, rubbing her back with her free hand as she was pulled up onto her feet, “I’ve been doing fine against every Talon merc though… What gives? Do you have some wack reflexes like a superhero? I think that’d be cheating.”

“Well I’ve been reading enemy movements for about thirteen years across six different species including humans, eventually you just learn what to watch out for. That said Talon ain’t no slouch, there’s a reason you were picked for Overwatch – just don’t get lazy.” He remarked as he pulled off his sleeveless tee, wiping his face and body down with it before tossing it onto a bench in the corner of the gym. With morbid curiosity Hana looked over his scarred body, she’d thought Reinhardt had some war stories to tell but compared to Adrian, the older man’s scars looked like light-scratching that comes from a schoolyard. When he turned around there was one that had caught her attention more than the others, it looked like a splatter painting around his lower abdomen.

“If you keep staring, I’ll have to charge you kid.”

Hana felt a blush rise to her cheeks as she realized she’d gotten lost in thought, “You wish old man, I was wondering though…how’d you get that scar?” She pointed.

“Ah that one,” He snorted as he sat down on one of the benches, taking a swig of water, “In my world, there’s an ammo type that’s essentially an explosive needle that fired by the rater unoriginally named needler. It’s whole purpose is to maim the target beyond any medical help, humans would normally call this a war crime, but that term stopped being used as soon as we met the Covenant. Now before you think I pulled off some miraculous survival, I was never actually hit by it, whole host of shards got stuck into the poor bastard next to me. When they went off like a miniature bomb I got hit with the shrapnel, a real pain but entirely survivable.”

“Man that’s…”

“A lot less cool than you thought it’d be? Yeah war pretty much sucks all around.”

She nodded as they enjoyed a comfortable silence, just enjoying the brief respite in their training. Hana’s mind was stuck in the thoughts of what Adrian told her, not that there was anything to particularly focus on but more the constant war. He’d so casually mentioned that his comrade died, she remembered the footage he’d shown but there was always a bit of disbelief. It’s hard to imagine everything he talks about, to actually think that he comes from a different universe, the whole idea is mind-boggling. In the end she was just glad to have been in such comparatively privileged world, just thinking about having to live with the knowledge that humanity was doomed was enough to build up an uncomfortable anxiety within in herself. Any further thoughts were cut off as a voice crackled through the comms.

“Mr. Kasporov, Winston is requesting that you look over his latest forays into Covenant slipspace technology.” Athena spoke, “He knows your specific knowledge is limited but stated that he’d feel better have your opinion.”

Adrian growled in annoyance, “I’ll look at that f-” He stopped himself as he cast brief glance to Hana, “When I’m free I’ll look it over.”

“Thank you.” She said as her voice left, filling the room once more with silence.

Hana looked on curiously at the interaction, “ Doyou hate Winston?”

He looked up at her, “Odd question.”

“Well I don’t know; it just seems that whenever you talk with him it puts you in a foul mood.”

“I don’t hate him per se…it’s…look I’m just trying to get home but my whole plan revolves around him working to do so. The project itself is damn near impossible so guess I can’t fault him for that, but it seems the only thing I hear is set back after setback. Plus he has an odd resemblance to some of the covvie bastards from back home, though putting the brutes in the same category as any of the others…well let’s just say they’re fucking monsters among barbarians.”

She shot him a small frown, “But Winston’s really nice! Can’t you just see that he’s different?”

“Getting rid of a dozen years of hate and prejudice isn’t happening overnight, let alone within the timespan I’ll be in this world. I reign it in when I can but I’m not perfect.” Standing up from the bench, he rolled his neck, “Eh that’s enough talking, you ready for another round kiddo?”

Hana blanched at the thought but would never let a challenge go unanswered, “Ready as I’ll ever be I suppose.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Adrian walked out of the training room hours later, only now beginning to feel the burn of the sparring leaving him wanting more. Though he knew it would be cruel to the kid, especially considering she’d done a hell of a job considering the differences in their experience. It’s clear she’d had training before, but more than that she had a hell of a creative streak being able to think of moves on the fly that would take most at least a year to get the hang of. Regardless he felt himself getting restless, it’d just over two weeks since his last mission and was far past the length of respite he usually had. He appreciated a nice break occasionally, now though he just wanted to get back out into the field even if it wasn’t any heavy fighting, just something to breath in some new air.

“Ah Adrian!” Someone called out to him from behind, turning he saw Ziegler in her doctor’s attire making her way down the hall, “Just who I was looking for, do you have a moment to talk?”

He nodded, “What do you need Doc?”

When she caught up, they continued walking down the corridor, “An old friend who’s served with Overwatch back in the day has been traveling the world collecting atmospheric and environmental data. She says there’s been a myriad of anomalies that we need to see, as well as some other oddities that she wants us to look over. Ah _verzeihung_ I’m rambling, back to my original point, Winston’s asked me to meet her in Munich to get said data.”

“And you need something from me before you go?”

“Not exactly, rather I was going to ask if you would like to accompany me. I’ve noticed how impatient you’ve grown lately, and while I doubt this excursion will offer any action it would at least get you out of the base. I know it’s probably not what you were hoping for-”

“Alright, got nothing better to do.”

“Really?” She said, slightly surprised at how easy it was, so had expected more of a fight or a refusal, not that she would blame him as this mission was fairly bland compared to much of what else was happening. That said an extra hand never hurt, especially considering how unpredictable Talon was. “Many thanks Adrian, we’ll leave tomorrow though I expect it won’t be very long nor should it require your typical outfit.” Angela remarked.

Adrian nodded, “Though I’ve got a question if you don’t mind me asking, why spend the effort to go out to meet this agent. Wouldn’t it be easier to just fetch her and bring her here?”

“In most cases I’d agree, but her overall goal is yet to be completed, once we meet up she’s going to continue across the globe to collect the last bits of data. Time spent coming here is time wasted in her eyes, though I imagine she only has two or three locations left so it shouldn’t be long till she returns. That and with the recent Talon attacks, we’re worried about potential leaks, so getting the information in person is an added measure, especially considering she’s said she has something more she believes we need to see, so I’m inclined to think there’s something that Talon shouldn’t see.”

“Another question if you don’t mind Doc, but you mentioned she was with the old Overwatch, did you two know each other?”

“We did, her name is Mei though back then she served in a more auxiliary position on one of Overwatch’s many climate outposts. There was an accident that her in cryogenics far longer than it should have, it’s been ages since we last met so I’ll be glad to see her again. Though I admit talking about this makes me feel like such a granny even though I’m only thirty-nine.” Angela laughed at the thought.

Adrian almost felt his jaw hit the floor, “Thirty-nine? You’re shitting me Doc, have you found the fountain of youth cause here I am at the ripe old age of twenty-nine getting called ‘old-man’ by Song and looking like I’ve lived through a hundred years of strife in a decade.”

Putting her hand up to her mouth she smiled, “Very much the truth though a fact I’d rather not focus on. As for yourself think of it this way, it’s unlikely you’ll ever have to get checked for your I.D if you buy alcohol.”

Adrian scoffed lightheartedly, “First the pipsqueak, now you, I swear old men like myself just aren’t respected by you youngsters.” They laughed as their conversation dwindled down to an easy silence, eventually splitting their separate ways as Angela headed back to the clinic leaving Adrian alone to his thoughts.

“Thirty-nine huh? Jesus I’ve seen officers half her age look like they were living through their midlife crisis.” He chuckled as he made his way to his room to prep for the mission tomorrow.

* * *

**Munich, Germany, Europe**

The streets were bustling but to Adrian it held a far different energy compared to Seoul, obviously this place was far less densely populated with people actually having room to breathe. More than that the bustling felt more natural, he wasn’t sure how to explain it but in Seoul it felt oddly organized, rather people had a destination to get to and hell or highwater they’d get it. Still maybe it was just a culture shock compared to his own experiences with cities back home because this place felt like he’d stepped into a classical medieval world. Massive gothic architecture dominated the streets, the painstakingly crafted stonework and soaring clocktower stood out amongst the warm autumn sky. Bringing his attention back down to the street, he looked around at the crowd flowing around him, human and Omnic alike. It was still strange to him to see these humanoid metal bodies traveling the world, interacting with humans. Apparently he wasn’t the only one though the others of this world took it to a disgusting extreme, as it seemed there was a deep civil unrest that grew with every passing day with regards to whether these Omnics deserved the same status allotted to the humans. Initially he believed it odd as it seemed that everyone would have a vested interest in stopping Talon, however he had quickly learned that not only did many not know of that shady organization, but that Talon was a key figure inciting the unrest by supporting many anti-Omnic organizations.

The Omnics were odd to him but he found it ridiculous to deny them their basic rights given the self-aware intelligence they seemed to present. It reminded him of the few encounters with smart A.I, fully intelligent beings with varying personalities and beliefs, while the technology was still a work in progress if it ever evolved to the point that they became fully independent mobile beings, he could only imagine that they would never face such discrimination. Though he supposed it was a bit hypocritical especially his earlier talk with Hana, many of these people had experienced a devasting war not too long ago against said Omncis though the details were far more muddled than that.

Focusing back on the mission at hand, he brought his attention to Ziegler a few steps ahead of him dressed in casual clothes with a thin tan long-coat to protect against the slight chill that came despite the days sun. Adrian followed behind as she led the way through the crowded city, slightly adjusting the back of his pants where he kept his SOCOM concealed away, the cold metal pressing against the flesh of his back. Walking he could also feel the pressure of his sheathed combat knife hidden inside his boot; despite what she had told him about this being a simple pick-up mission, he felt far safer carrying especially considering what had happened in Korea.

He caught her eyes as she slowed down a bit to match his pace, “I used to visit here when I was a child, my parents would often travel here to visit family in the region.”

“Must’ve been nice,” He spoke as he eyed the architecture, “Where are you parents now?”

Her smile became sad, “They passed during the war, though it’s what drives me to heal people, to strive for solutions that don’t resort to violence. I was initially hesitant about joining Overwatch because I was afraid of their militaristic agenda, still am today, but I also see it as a chance to try to make my parents proud.”

“By pushing for your overseas clinics and public speeches? Hoping to push Overwatch in a different direction can’t be easy but considering they’re only a shell of their former self…well anything’s possible.”

She gave a determined nod, “All I can do is try.”

“Not to derail the conversation, but where exactly are we heading to meet with this Mei?”

“There’s a cozy restaurant I remember my family used to visit a lot, not exactly what Winston had in mind I’m sure, but what he knows won’t hurt him.” She shot him a cheeky grin with a wink.

He just chuckled to himself, the doctor worked harder than just about anyone else he knew on base, for her the work never stopped until there wasn’t a single person left in need. A righteous thought but also a taxing one, letting her bask in relaxation if even for a brief moment seemed a well-earned reward. Stopping beside him, she nodded her head towards a red brick building to their right, the words, **Bohemian Biergarten** , emblazoned above the entrance. Walking inside he felt his senses assaulted on every front, the interior was lavishly decorated with an array of warm colors and memorabilia adorning the walls with the heavy aroma of spices and meat filling the restaurant space. The building was spacious with a large square bar filling up the center of the room, booths lined with wall while open tables filled the empty space between the booths and the bar. Letting Angela take the lead, she spoke with the server at the entrance in German before holding up three fingers. The server nodded with a pleasant smile as he led them to a quiet booth in the corner of the building that had a window to it’s side opening up to show the vast Old Town district of Munich.

“Gorgeous isn’t it?”

Adrian gave a light bob of his head, “I haven’t seen anything like it really, this classical architecture really on exists on Earth or in the hands of a wealthy few.”

She gave a slight frown, “That’s a shame, though it seems we’ve arrived quite a bit earlier than we needed to in. While we wait, I could show you some of the local cuisine, it would prove quite different to what you’re used to I’m sure.”

He shrugged, “Why not, I can’t remember the last time I ever actually sat down at a restaurant.” When she tilted her head he elaborated, “I’m either aboard a military cruiser or fighting on the ground, of the few times we get shore leave the first thought for most marines isn’t to find a nice restaurant to get a warm meal at. Always on the move I suppose.”

“You travel a lot then.” Adrian nodded as she continued to talk, “Not to make light of an awful war, but traveling across a galaxy’s worth of planets…it’s hard to wrap my head around.”

“If there had to be one silver lining in this whole thing, I suppose that be one of them.” He’d never given it much thought before though she had a point, even in the age of intergalactic colonization it was unusual for the average person to travel off world especially if you lived in the outer colonies. Being apart of the UNSC had taken him to dozens of planets across the milky way, something that most people would never experience. “Tell you what, I can’t read tit for tat from this menu, so you pick something good and I’ll dazzle you in tales of far off lands.”

Angela agreed, skimming over the list of dishes as a rather gloomy waiter came over, presumably to collect their order though Adrian couldn’t make heads or tails of their conversation. Despite that he found the rhythm of the language to be enjoyable in a way, it had a harshness that remind him of Russian, reminded him of home. Ziegler responded to the waiter, pointing out a handful of items with a cheerful tone, the positivity was so infectious it seemed to brighten up the previously solemn waiter into a cheerful mood. As the waiter left to deliver the order, she turned back towards Adrian while resting her elbows on the able, folding her hands and resting her chin atop them expectantly waiting for him to hold up his part of the bargain.

“Let’s see…ah here’s an interesting one, how do you feel about spiders Doc?”

“Eck.” She made a disgusted face.

“Well on this planet, the first non-colonized planet I ever went too, there existed these massive ten-legged beasts that were at least three feet long.” Adrian held out his hands to give an approximate size, laughing as Ziegler shuddered at the thought of such a creature existing. For the next half an hour Adrian regaled her with stories of planets that seemed straight out of science fiction. From planets with constantly raging storms with monolithic monsters roaming the plains to barren deserts whose only source of ‘liquid’ was a gelatinous white ooze that seeped from the grounds, toxic to any lifeform other than one of the unkillable few that thrived in such desolate wastes. He told her of mountains so high they practically pierced the atmosphere where upon reaching the peak, he could only see the vast expanse of dark clouds below them covering the landscape. Adrian painted a picture of a prairie land only populated by massive sprawling trees with canopies so large they cast shadows for miles. Initially what had begun as a simple way to pass the time became an engrossing adventure for them both, Adrian becoming so invested in the telling of his travels that he was almost disappointed when the food finally arrived – _almost_. Though any doubts were washed away as the enticing sent of their meals hit his nose; when the plate hit the table he saw that it consisted of what appeared to be a few thin piece of fried meat topped with garnish and a lemon as well as a long. well roasted sausage of some kind, and a side of diced seasoned potatoes.

Taking a bite of everything was like an act of pure euphoria for him; being in the military all but guaranteed that you wouldn’t be a picky eater, that being said there were a select few foods that he truly enjoyed. After this meal however it seemed he would have to expand that list.

“Is it fair to say that you enjoy it?”

Wiping his mouth, he settled back into the booth with an exaggerated frown followed by a heavy sigh, “Well it’s alright I guess.”

“Just remember that I’m the one who patches up your mistakes, it’d be a shame if my hand were to accidently slip would it not?”

“Now my memory on the law is pretty fuzzy, but I’m pretty sure that’s illegal.”

She gave a noncommittal shrug, “Accidents happen.” Her stony face could only last a few seconds before cracking into a grin as Adrian followed suite. At this moment Adrian came to realize how much he genuinely enjoyed the time he spent with the Doc, here with this comfortable feeling existing between them as they joked and conversed like old friends. Part of his mind, the rational part, told him that following this train of thought was doomed to end in tragedy, a fact that Adrian himself knew too well. Another part of him wanted to continue this feeling, ask something of her while this comfortable air was still here though he stifled that thought just a touch too long. Angela’s eyes drifted beside him and lit up as she spotted something outside their booth. Turning to where she was focused, he spied a cute Asian girl with her hair tied up into a tight bun.

“Mei!” Ziegler called out moving out from the booth, confirming his own suspicions he decided to stay put, knowing this was a reunion for friends whereas he was simply along for the ride. The two women closed the gap and embraced each other tightly, the Swiss doctor absolutely beaming upon seeing her old friend. “It’s been weeks since we last spoke, you’ll have to fill me in on all your adventures. Though first there’s someone you should meet, Mei this is Adrian Kasporov, Adrian this is Mei-Ling Zhou.”

Mei stuck out her hand with a smile, “A pleasure Mr. Kasporov.”

“Likewise, Ms. Zhou.”

He shifted to further down the seat as Angela took a seat next to him as Mei sat across from them, it was at that point that Adrian had noticed that Mei wasn’t alone. A small white robot of some kind appeared next to her floating silently in mid-air as if it was simply taking in the situation.

“Do you like him Mr. Kasporov?”

“I haven’t really seen anything like him before. Some kind of drone I’d assume?” Adrian’s interest was piqued in the odd device, more curious about it’s technology than anything else, to be able to adequately propel itself so effortlessly with such limited engine space and which practically zero sound.

“Don’t get too attached Adrian, snowball is more mischievous than he seems.” Angela chimed in.

Snowball huh? Odd name. He thought to himself as he continued to look over the small bot. As the two women talked, catching up on old times Adrian wasn’t ashamed to admit that his mind wondered to other thoughts as he let to the friends catch up with each other. He continued his stare down of the robot before his eyes drifted out towards the city, watching people pass by on their way to work or to do some shopping. As his eyes scanned the crowd aimlessly, he felt his instincts kick in as he thought he spied a familiar face, not one from his world of course but someone he’d had growing concerns over. Edith Hansen, the women he’d spent a couple long nights with. It was hard to see through the mess of people though he could’ve sworn he saw her face as she was walking this way. Moving closer towards the window he looked out, trying to spot another sign of Edith, the chances of meeting her out of country, in a random city, at a random god damn restaurant was just too far beyond simple coincidence. Despite his efforts he couldn’t spot her again, he wasn’t sure whether to be glad that he was wrong or worried that he simply overlooked her previously.

Pushing the uncertainty from his mind he turned back to the Mei and Angela, noticing that the conversation had shifted into the purpose of the mission.

“As you know Angela, I’ve traveled the world collecting data from all of our former outposts, most of it related to the climate anomalies that have spiked over the past couple years. While I believe it’s necessary to reverse that recent rise, that’s not why I called you here. Rather there’s two things that caught my attention, the first is something I’m not entirely sure what it’s supposed to be. Over the last several months there been unusual weather patterns in a handful of areas in the stratosphere, none of these last long, rather they’re akin to a quick burst of energy before almost immediately fading.”

Adrian sat up in his seat, sharing a brief knowing glance with Zeigler before speaking up, “And I assume you’ve got the data collected, what does it show you?”

“Well that’s the thing, I’m not entirely sure, it seems like its more up Winston’s alley because as it stands, I can’t make any sense of it. Though there’s something more immediately pressing that I picked up, a number of encrypted Talon communications that talk about such high-ranking arms-dealer.”

“We’ve already been acquainted, how recent were these broadcasts?” Angela asked, leaning forward on the table.”

“Two weeks at the earliest, they make reference to numerous locations across the globe, its hard to determine if any of these is where this official is stationed or merely sending weapons to.”

“Well figure it out, thank you for all your help Mei.”

Zhou smiled, before looking down at a watch on her hand, “Ah I’ve already stayed far longer than I meant too! I must get going to continue but very soon I imagine we’ll be working together at Gibraltar.”

“I hope so-” The rest of Angela’s sentence was cut off as a deafening boom sounded from the front of the restaurant as glass shattered and people screamed. The concussive burst shook the restaurant and all its patrons to the core, Adrian’s mind flashed of living on the frontlines before focusing on the situation at hand. His mind was in daze as he pushed himself out of the booth, looking towards the front he saw a gaping hole at the entrance where it looked as if a bomb had gone off. Thick smoke and dust bellowed out through the building; he covered his mouth as his eyes watered looking back to see that his squadmates were alright.

“ _Verdammt!_ What was that?” Angela coughed out as she waved her hand around to clear the air.

“A bombing by the looks of it.”

Mei looked around in horror, “Is it Talon? How did they find us?”

Briefly glancing back to the now shattered window, Adrian knew that it wasn’t just a passing thought nor was it the most miraculous spot of coincidence in human history, “I’ve got a a few solid thoughts, but we’ve got a few more pressing issues.” He choked out through the smoke as he kneeled on the ground behind a flipped table, waving Zhou and Ziegler down with him to avoid being spotted.

“We can’t just leave the injured unattended, especially if they’re in critical condition. By the time the paramedics will have arrived it will be too late, it’s our fault Talon is here and as a member of Overwatch I cannot stand idly by while they commit such atrocities.” Angela spoke with a firm tone, her eyes hard.

Adrian peaked over the table, drawing the pistol from it’s hidden holster, the red eyes had drawn closer thought they also split-up to cover more area. A vicious grin grew across Adrian’s face as the adrenaline began to course through his veins. Of the six, two had stayed by the entrance while the other four had split in half with each group taking one side of the restaurant.

“Stay back Doc, I’ll clear the restaurant. Zhou stay back and make sure no one surprises us from the back.”

They both nodded as Adrian slipped out from the makeshift cover, silently making his way closer to the front of the restaurant where the Talon mercs originated from. Ducking into a nook in the bar where the waiters could enter, he waited for the two goons to make their way past him, their footsteps growing louder with every step as they crunched glass and rubble beneath their heavy boots. Drawing the knife from his boot, he held in serrated knife in one hand while his SOCOM occupied his other. As soon as the armed men passed, Adrian struck. His knife slicing through the back of the closest man’s leg, the serrated edge tearing the flesh and cloth with ease sending a spray of blood across the flood. As the Talon merc feel to one leg, he turned to see where he’d been hit only to be meet with the barrel of a pistol staring him down. Adrian pressed the trigger down, the armor-piercing round splattering the man’s head as his body fell backwards. The second Talon soldier didn’t have time to react as Adrian fired once, the bullet tearing through the gap between the helmet and chest armor. The poor bastard raised his hands futilely to his throat, trying in vain to halt the bleeding as blood leaked from his hands like a dam about to burst.

He felt face first to the ground as their comms came bursting to life, “ _Kilo 4-3 did you engage with the targets over? Kilo 4-3 respond! God dammit.”_

With the element of surprise lost, he knew he didn’t have time to waste. Slamming against the bar counter, aimed over the countertop aiming at the sharp red eyes by the entrance. Sure, it helped them to see through the thick smog, but it also meant that if Adrian could see their eyes then he had a clear line of sight. With practiced ease he fired two bursts at each target, their armored helmets offered laughable protection to weapons mean to cut through covvie shields. The guards went down with no resistance, but Adrian was forced back down behind the counter as splinters erupted around him under a hail of gunfire.

He wasn’t sure how much time it’d be until the local authorities arrived, not only did they need t be gone by then but the longer this went on the likelier it was that Ziegler would be treating corpses. Peaking above the wooden countertop he spotted one merc directly across from opposite of the bar while the other was slowly making his way around the front to try and flank him, Taking a deep breath he instantly regretted it as he inhaled a lungful of smoke. Rolling over the countertop he opened fired on the flanking Talon soldier, his first few rounds only landing glancing blows before the last two hit the goon straight in the chest. Looking towards the final soldier, Adrian brought his pistol to fire only to hear it click on an empty magazine. Swearing he sidestepped behind a rack of alcohol as machine gunfire riddled his position, he berated himself for not bring spare magazines on this assignment. Foolish to assume it would go smoothly but more so for making such an amateur mistake. Waiting until there was a respite in the action, he charged out from his cover throwing his combat knife at the last goon. It landed with a sickening squelch as it burrowed itself deep into the man’s soldier, the Talon soldier stumbled back in surprise. Adrian vaulted over the bar when he reached the counter, his legs shooting out like missiles as they hit hard into the Talon mercs chest sending him flying back into a table.

“You’re all clear Doc! Try to keep it quick though, the last thing we need is for the police to get involved.”

He didn’t hear a response but could here Mei and Angela rushing to check out the injured civilians as Adrian walked over to the groaning Talon agent laying in the remains of a wooden table. Lifting the man up by his collar, Adrian twisted the knife in his shoulder before slowly taking it out, making sure to drag the serrated blade across the man’s skin.

To the man’s credit he didn’t scream, though he supposed that was the only thing he could laud the man for, involving innocents was sickening, but bombing a densely populated restaurant? Fucking pathetic. Adrian raised the knife to the man’s throat.

The man cracked his eyes open, a pained grin spreading across his face, “I don’t remember Overwatch being so into violence, maybe you’d fit better somewhere else? Or are you going to fit right into Overwatch’s pathetic excuses of moral superiority.”

Adrian grit his teeth as he stared the Talon merc in the eyes, what his mind told him to do was at odds with the feelings of his heart. Normally this wouldn’t even warrant a second thought, but as he heard Ziegler caring over the civilians, he thought back to his first show of UNSC hospitality to the Talon prisoners in what felt so long ago. He hated the doubts that were planted in his mind, gripping the knife tighter in his hands he sighed as he sheathed the knife. This wasn’t his world; he’d promised Angela all that time ago that he’d make an attempt to avoid senseless violence while he was under the protection of Overwatch. Throwing the Talon agent hard against the ground, Adrian felt disgust rise in him as he saw the man lying on the ground with an arrogant smirk. Raising his boot, Adrian knocked the man out under the gruesome step of his boot, a sickening crunch emanating from under his foot.

“I only promised I’d make an attempt.” Adrian spit on the man’s unconscious form.

Heading over to where Mei and Angela were looking over the injured civilians, he kneeled down by Ziegler as she turned to face him. “Oh my god, Adrian are you…are you alright?”

Looking down at himself he saw his clothes were stained with blood, “It’s not mine.” She frowned at the bluntness, disapproving of his excessive violence, a fact that he couldn’t readily deny. He raised in hands in half-hearted defense, “Besides not all of them are dead, despite my gut telling me otherwise. How are the injured?”

Her glare softened at his admittance of restraint before she turned her head towards the patrons laying in the floor, “I haven’t seen any critical injuries, most were broken bones or concussions. Without any supplies there’s not much I can do for them, though I tried to mitigate the worst of the damage.”

The sound of sirens pierced the relative silence, as the trio’s eyes shot up towards the street. “I think it’s best we make our leave.” Mei spoke, “We should go through the back.”

Adrian nodded as he stood up, surveying the carnage one last time as he turned to follow the others out.

“Over here!” Mei called them over, waving from a door marked **Employees Only**. They made their way through an abandoned kitchen, half cooked meals laid scatted across the floor. Continuing to make their way to the back exit, Adrian took point as they came across their exit. As he reached for the handle the door burst open, a red-eyed Talon agent stood in shock right in front of Adrian, both surprised to see each other with the former probably some form of backup in case it became worst came scenario. Adrian didn’t have to do much as the man in front of him froze in the blink of an eye. Snowball shot passed him, some sort of liquid ice covering the merc in less than a second. Staring in stunned silence he could barely register when two more Talon agents ran to block the exit of the alley. Like the first bastard, these two were subsequently frozen before they could even raise their rifles.

He showed the Chinese woman an incredulous look as he witnessed her handiwork, wondering the ramifications of such technology and if one of those poor fucks fell over…would they shatter into dozens of tiny pieces?

“I’ve got a few tricks of my sleeve.”

“So it seems.” He could only dumbly get out as he snapped himself back to reality, “Now we need to focus on getting the hell out of here.”

“Well I know where we can go, though I can’t promise it’ll be enjoyable.” Angela spoke up as she nodded her head to the side, Adrian followed her directions to look at the steaming manhole cover in the far end of the alley.

“Well shit.” Adrian grumbled.

“Quite literally yes.” Ziegler dryly remarked.

Walking over to the cover, he dug his fingers into the side and lifted with all his might as Mei helped once he’d gotten some finger space to grab onto. With her helped he managed to slide it far enough for them to climb into to, though as he looked into the sewer tunnels the rancid, warm smell hit him at once. Mei went in first, followed by Angela, he stepped onto the ladder after her making sure to enjoy the last bit of clean air he’d have for the next while. As he climbed down into the dark, dank depths of the sewers the last thing he heard was the blare of sirens stopping right outside the ruined restaurant.

* * *

**Watchpoint Gibraltar, Iberian Peninsula, Europe**

Winston sighed as he looked at the brief report, he’d been given by Angela upon her and Adrian’s return, once again Talon had interrupted their plans though this time involving the civilian populace. It sickened him to see such violence, he believed in acts of force only as a last resort though when dealing with Talon he had to admit there hasn’t been much in the way of discretionary use. Though he did it curious that out of everyone Mr. Kasporov was the one to have a possible lead on how they were being tracked, that’s something he would have to follow up later with the man when he had some time. Scrolling through the rest of the file, he was surprised to see that they might have another lead at Mr. Kim. After the previous…failure, he told himself he wouldn’t fall so easily for information but coming from Mei he choose to believe that this was genuine, especially if Talon was willing to kill to keep this information hidden. Speaking of which, he could only hope that Mei would stay safe in the last leg of her journey, according to Angela the group had split not long after escaping the city with Mei adamant in visiting the last set of deserted climate outposts. It would frankly be a blessing to have her on base, her intellect would be a great help as well as having another operative to bolster their growing ranks.

Continuing to scroll he gasped in surprise as he reached the end, seeing the wealth of data Mei had collected. She’d mentioned the anomalies previously, something that much like Angela and Adrian he assumed was the slipspace ruptures. Any information was useful, but he didn’t have his hopes up, initially assuming that it wouldn’t be much more than the bog standard results he’d been receiving here. Oh how wrong he was, the data was…overflowing with wealth of information that even that seems to be an understatement. In his lab he’d been too focused on the immediate results of the ruptures, live recordings of what was happening but of course the climate outposts would account for all the possible variations, environmental shifts, and different areas affected by the ruptures. He knew it was a fault of his, once something entered his mind he would focus on it to a point, while good for somethings also meant that he could lack the wider picture.

“Is everything alright Winston? Your heartbeat is usually high.” Athena’s voice broke the silence of the dark lab.

Winston smiled as he looked through the data, “It’s not a miracle Athena, there’s still a difficult path ahead of his, but by God we’ve got a chance now.”


	32. Way Back When

**Zagros Mountain Range, Iran-Iraq Border, Asia**

Rocks crumbled beneath his fingertips as he pulled himself up the cliff, the vertical slab of rock continued to tower its way above him as he climbed it’s brutally smooth cliff-face in the pitch-black of night. Briefly glancing down to find a hole to jam his foot in, he reveled in the adrenaline as he saw the base span out a mile below him. Looking back up towards the top, he could begin to make out the end of his journey as he swung himself from one crack to another, his fingers digging into the small crevice in the hard rock. In terms of physical exertion, this was the first mission in ages that felt like it was genuinely pushing him like he was accustomed too, as odd as it seemed it was a welcomed bit of familiarity.

As his body focused on scaling the cliff, his mind drifted towards his mission that brought him to the arid alpine steppe of the Zagros Mountains. Following up on the data that Zhou has brought them, they didn’t have a location on the arms-dealer which was a bit lackluster considering the effort Talon went through to prevent the data from reaching their hands. Not to say it was a loss however, instead what they gained was a number of key routes and destinations that Talon would be using to transport weapons to numerous terrorist cells, unstable militias, and others who sought to create discord among the world’s populace. Numerous raids were being carried out as he spoke or rather as he _thought_ , he was but one of several groups attacking armed convoys transporting said weapons. Though he wouldn’t be working alone, rather he was to meet up with another agent already in the field in the area, Jack Morrison or Soldier 76 depending on whether one called him by his name or unofficial moniker. After their initial meeting, Adrian had barely seen Morrison, let alone had a chance to converse with the man though to be fair its not as if he was actively seeking out the man. Their original encounter being a less than amiable experience left both with little desire to make any sort of amends, in the end it didn’t matter as orders were orders. ODST’s knew that better than anyone, half the corps had a visceral hatred for anything spartan despite most having never actually seen one but when push came to shove ODST and Spartans alike could shut their traps and do one hell of a job together.

Adrian felt his grip with his right-hand falter as the rock crumbled out beneath his fingers, he scrapped against the cliff as he braced himself against the wall sparks flying as titanium met limestone. His arm shot out, grasping for any sort of hold as he felt his footholds slipping away, his hand found a sizeable outcrop of rock sticking out from the cliff. Stopping with a jerk, he felt his heartbeat racing in his chest as he took a deep breath. Maybe it was a disease or something similar to Stockholm syndrome, having spent so much time faced with death that he came to love it, because with his heart feeling like it was about to burst it reminded him of the life-or-death moments as an ODSTs that brought back an inexplicable thrill to his veins.

“Fuck that’s good.” He chuckled as he continued his climb of the cliff-face, a faint smile gracing his lips under his helmet.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d spent climbing, only that when he finally heaved himself up from the cliff the sun was just cresting over the ragged range of the Zagros. Taking a quick look around it finally settled on him how desolate this area was, as far as he could see there were no structures, roads, or sign of human life. In fact, the only sign of life was the faintest trail of dirt lining through thick grassy fields, evidence that there was some travel occurring though that was miles back. Reaching behind him, wrapped his hand around the unusual grip as he brought forth the Covenant beam rifle, it’s smooth dark metal shell reflecting the early morning rays. After his latest encounters with Reaper and the nightmarish flood, it’d been enough of a slap to the face to make him bring along some covvie weapons and give him an edge in his next fight.

Pulling up his NAV map from inside his helmet, he checked his destination before flicking the screen away once more brining his attention to the stunning vista laid out before him. Trekking through the grassy steppe he eventually saw a thin column of smoke rising in the distance, likely the meeting point where he was supposed to rendezvous with Morrison. Cresting one final hill, he saw unmistakable leather sports jacket faced away from him and staring towards the fire, it still baffled Adrian that the man had choose such light attire for their occupation. Though as he drew closer Adrian realized that the man wasn’t alone, opposite of Morrison sat a hunched figure with thick robed garb and a heavy hood covering their face.

“You didn’t mention we’d be having company.” Adrian remarked as he neared, his finger moving to hover over the trigger of the beam rifle.

The older man turned around, his red visor staring Adrian straight on, “Doesn’t change the mission.”

“Barely seen you since our meeting and now I get to meet your friends? How generous of you.”

“I’ve been hunting my prey for a long time before Overwatch got back together, can’t drop those problems on a whim.” He drawled out.

“Not going to introduce us Jack? I thought you’d had better manners.” The unknown member spoke up as they pulled their hood back to reveal an older woman, light gray hair fell backwards with a thick bandage eyepatch wrapped around her head. “You can call me Amari, I served with Overwatch before it fell as well, though it seems the moment I leave Jack alone he gets into all sorts of problems.” She turned to him, an uncertainty passing through her sole eye.

Adrian’s eyebrows raised under the helmet, “Name’s Kasporov…but you said your name was Amari?”

“That’s right.”

“I’ll save you the trouble, she’s Fareeha’s mother. Problem solved.” Morrison grunted.

The older Amari shot him a dirty look before focusing back on Adrian, “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised you know her; I know she went into Overwatch after the fiasco with Helix. Tell me though, how is she?”

Adrian took a seat around the fire, laying the rifle in his lap as he depolarized his helmet wondering what was stopping the woman from asking her daughter herself but pushed that aside. It wasn’t his problem to worry about and he wasn’t in the business of dealing with other people’s personal lives.

“Well enough I suppose, we haven’t spoken much though from what I can tell in the field she’s ferocious with a wicked strategist’s mind. One hell of a deadly combo honestly, if I’d met more officers with half of her wits…well maybe the military could finally pull some decent organization out of its ass.”

Morrison snorted at that remark as Ana nodded with a ghost of a smile, “Sounds like she’s doing just fine. What’s your story then? Military man obviously.”

“Russian private sector, special operations.” Adrian lied as naturally as he breathed, this story was one of the first things him and Winston had settled to explain his gear, training, and existence or rather lack thereof in this world. Though the best lies were of course ones sprinkled with truth, “Shit got bad during an op, got separated from my unit and haven’t heard anything since. I offer my services to Winston in return for him to help find my squad.”

“For so long though? I couldn’t imagine your squad to have been to such a drastic degree.”

“The situation went south real fast, at this point its more a question if they’re still alive.”

Any further conversation was thankfully cut short by Jack interrupting, tapping his watch to signify that it was time to set the plan in motion.

“The set-up is simple, Kasporov take a position on that ridge overlooking the pass. I’ve buried a number of small mines along their predicted path, they’ll donate when the first vehicle is right above them causing the entire caravan to stall. When that happens, you’ll pick off those on the end, stop them from retreating and pulling back. I’ll make my way from the front while Ana here keeps my back secured. Easy enough?”

Adrian gave a curt nod as he stood back up, shouldering his rifle as Morrison suffocated the fire with a swift kick of dirt. Separating himself from the duo, he lightly jogged to the position, an elevated ridge that gave a good vantage point allowing him a clear view of the entire convoy’s side profile. Laying down on the soft earth, he crawled forwards to the edge until the tip of the beam rifle was just barely hanging over. Adjusting his body until he was comfortable, he prepared himself for a long period of doing nothing. For how eager the covvies were to kill all of humanity, they sure as hell enjoyed taking their damn time doing just about anything, the number of times his squad had been deployed to assassinate a high-value commander only to be laying still for hours on end until the damn hinge-head finally decided to show his face was enough to drive a man to insanity.

Time passed like a river for Adrian as he laid upon the dirt, eyes trained on narrow path before him, waiting for the slightest sign of movement to call him into action. Though in the end he heard the call before he saw it, the deep rumbling of militarized motorcade had no trouble echoing through the mountains. Readjusting one final time, he peered down the alien scope as he waited for the inevitable.

When the first vehicle finally made itself clear, it was if the whole world went silent as he focused solely on what he saw, blocking out any outside senses. For missions like this there’s an energy you can’t find elsewhere, it’s not a nervous tension nor is it heart pounding adrenaline, rather it’s like an indescribable uncertainty. The long build-up, the eerie quietness, the unusual calmness, it strikes an unusual chord within somebody that leads their mind to wonder. Take for instance this very mission, a bombastic blast will bring this area into a free fire zone or the convoy will rumble on none the wiser should the mines fail. Though of course the latter is near impossible, a dud is unlikely and for the trio to simply let the convoy pass without any action is ludicrous. Regardless that doesn’t stop the thoughts, the feelings from worming their way inside your mind and asking, _‘what if’._

For a split second it seemed as if the silence became all consuming with the world slowing to a halt as Adrian perceived every detail of his targets, ingrained very inch of space to his mind as he centered the reticle over the driver of the tailing truck. Then as soon as that second came it disappeared with a thunderous clap of power as a shockwave rolled throughout the ragged sierra. Shouts of surprise echoed from the men below as they frantically tried to piece together what had happened.

Adrian lightly flexed his finger over the trigger, sending a blistering bolt of ionized hydrogen rocketing forward towards the driver of the last vehicle in the column. The bolt easily pierced the glass like a knife through butter, making an even easier pass through the man himself as it cut straight through his neck. There was no blood spurt, no violent eruptions as the shot cauterized the wound near instantaneously; rather the bastard just slumped backed into the seat like an old man passing in their sleep. The sheer heat radiating from the fired ammo causing third-degree burns around the wound simply from being in close proximity and melting the glass it pass through, we’re he a better marksman the likes of Wizard then he could’ve capped both agents in the front seats. Alas he was not that good, so he had to settle for quickly snapping the beam rifle’s barrel half an inch over to the other soldier in the passenger seat as he desperately tried to take control of the idling truck.

With the column stuck in a slim pass and their way forward barred by a flaming wreck, they though to hightail it out the way they came in, a sensible plan in any scenario had the tail truck not been filled with only corpses. The vehicles tried to reverse only to slam into the front end of bumper of the corpse truck, causing a domino effect for the rest of the column as they rammed into one another in a fruitless effort to escape. Gunfire erupted from the front of the convoy as Morrison made his move, cutting through the swath of confused terrorists and Talon mercenaries as Adrian did the same but from the opposite end. Picking off anyone that came out into the open, slowly making his path inward leaving a trail of bodies in the wake of his sharpshooting.

A bullet ricocheted off the rocks a few meters away, a rushed attempt to get a lucky shot at their oppressing sniper. Adrian scanned the battlefield to find the amateur marksmen, finally settling on a man with piss-poor form trying to fire a DMR with no accurate pattern to any of the shots he was taking. Adrian let loose a burst of ionized hydrogen, watching as the bolt cut through the man’s DMR taking all his fingers along with it. The ravaged rifle fell to the ground with the man staring dumbfounded at his now severed digits laying on the ground. Adrian adjusted his aim a hair to the right before letting loose another shot, this one hitting true as lanced the man’s chest in the blink of an eye.

Adrian scoped his way down the rest of the column, clearing out any unwanted combatants with refined ruthlessness, occasionally huffing in annoyance as Ana would cap one of his targets mere seconds before he could pull the trigger. Morrison had an equally cavalier attitude in the action though it’d be hypocritical of Adrian to call him out on that. In any other situation there would be callouts, designation of targets, relation of position to the shooters, but well it seemed that organization was never one of Overwatch’s strong suits, besides he’d always loved a good challenge to test their skills. Was it reckless? Most definitely, but ODST’s were never one to play it safe. He doubted the aged Amari saw this as some sort of coemption, but against the Covenant a macabre humor often developed as a way to combat the existential crisis faced on a daily basis.

He’d have to play the technical differences of their weapons to his advantage; he couldn’t rapidly fire the weapon otherwise it would overheat costing him valuable seconds. Though he had the advantage of not needing to reload and depending on Amari’s weapon of choice the reload cold be anywhere from lightning quick to cumbersomely heavy hitting. If he could keep the firing to a constant rhythm, then the rifle wouldn’t overheat which was a blessing not just in time but to prevent burning his hands. Though as the seconds turned into minutes it became increasingly harder to find a target, eventually the firing ceased as Adrian put one final bolt in the back of a fleeing tango.

For a moment he laid there in the once calm silence of the cordillera, moving his eye away from the scope, he took in the destruction laid across the Zagros. Bringing himself to a kneel, he passed over the ruined convoy with his rifle once more looking for anyone waiting to make a run for when the fighting had calmed.

Seeing nothing he radioed to Morrison, “All clear from where I am.”

“Agreed, get down here and help to check these trucks, mark anything useful to be taken back to base.”

Sliding the beam rifle onto his back, he walked to the side before hopping off and sliding down from the ridge. Small rocks trailed him down as she hit the ground with a brief stumble before quickly regaining his composure as he looked towards the corpse strewn road. Looking down the column of vehicles he saw Morrison and Ana checking the first two respectively, so he made his way towards the end. Trekking down the road, he was caught off-guard by a faint groaning emanating from the bodies littered around. Surveying the carnage, he spied the faint rising chest of the poor bastard that was still alive, with an expressionless face he drew the SOCOM from it’s holster and put a bullet in the man’s head. The armor piercing round splattering the already drenched soil with even more bodily crimson, briefly he offered a quick apology to the good doctor Ziegler halfway across the world, ‘Old habits die hard’. 

Turning back to the objective at hand, he passed by his opening handiwork, the glass still sizzling from where the beam had sliced through it with faint smoke leaking from cabin. Walking to the back he threw open the back hatch, stacks of sealed boxes with the faint emblazoned logo of Talon adoring a number of the crates. Pulling himself onto the bed, he drew his knife to crack the first trunk which unsurprisingly revealed a plethora of arms, gear, and ammo. He repeated the action numerous times as he checked every inch of the truck, marking every valuable crate with a right strike across the Talon logo. This took the next half an hour as he went from one vehicle to the next, the opposite of invigorating but a necessary step of securing the supplies.

Landing with a thud he sighed in relief as he realized that was the last truck left for him to clear, turning past the corner of the truck he walked down the blood-soaked road, avoiding the myriad of bodies littering the ground. Off in the distance he could hear Morrison giving a report of the success of the mission to Winston. Sitting down a rocky outcropping, he cracked his helmet just enough for his mouth to get in a fresh gust of air to quickly be replaced with a heavy smoke as he lit a cigarette. The elder Amari took a seat next to him, clearly tired from the mundane task as she unclasped a flask of water and took a deep sip from it. Catching Adrian’s focus on her drink, she offered it to him for which he gladly accepted, guzzling he lukewarm water with fervor. Handing the canteen back to her he offered her the cigarette he held in his hand, she shook her head as he put it back in his mouth.

“Where I younger I would’ve taken you up on that offer, though in my old age I’ve realize the frailty of life. Its such a shame to see such violence necessary, in a perfect world such drastic action wouldn’t be necessary.” Ana spoke solemnly as she surveyed the carnage that Adrian only looked at with indifference.

“For Talon this probably is their perfect world, violence sowing violence seems to be their motto.” Adrian remarked as he took a drag.

“Sadly I agree, though I can’t help the pity I feel for them. Hatred-fueled fools they may be taking advantage of even more foolish bigots, but they still have families…loved ones.”

“They brought it on themselves though, they sought conflict so I find it hard to feel anything but contempt.”

“But what about their children? The ones who don’t know better but will inevitably learn of the ‘bad guys’ that put their father in the ground? I know force has to answer force in this world, I’m saddened not naïve.”

“You sound like the Doc Ziegler.” He mused as he blew smoke into the air. “She shares a similar philosophy though hers is a bit more…”

“Optimistic?” Ana grinned.

“I was going to say foolish, but yours is nicer. ‘Sides the Doc’s got a good head on her shoulders with a heart bigger than most, so I suppose it ain’t fair to call it foolish.”

“Ah I remember Ziegler; she was so young when she’d came aboard though she’d never gotten used to the militaristic approach Overwatch took. To hear it now I’m honestly surprised she came back.”

“She was surprised herself, though it seemed her desire to help people outweighed her own personal grudges with Overwatch’s policies.”

Ana stayed silent for a moment, contemplating a storm of thoughts within her head, “Maybe I should follow in her steps.” Adrian shot her with a confused glance, “It’s been so long since Overwatch, been so disappointed with it in the end that I never looked backed once I was presumed dead. Though if that innocent child can look past Overwatch’s flaws… then maybe I should too.”

“I’m sure your daughter would love you see you as well.” Adrian remarked.

“That…that I’m not so sure about.” She gave him a somber smile before her gaze turned to the incoming bootsteps.

Following her gaze he turned to see Morrison walking towards them. It was hard to tell what the man was thinking or feeling, part of it was the obscuring mask but another part felt like the man was constantly scowling. You could tell him he’d won a million and found true love and Adrian guaranteed the man would give off the aura that someone shit in his shoes. Though this time the man’s annoyance would be well justified given the news he was about to tell.

“No rest for the wicked; a bomb just went off in Barcelona in the Omnic quarter after a relatively peaceful few months in the city.”

“Fucking hell, we know why?” Adrian swore.

“Not a clue, the news just broke. That’s part of why we’re going, to establish a cause but also to make sure the city doesn’t break out into a full-blown warzone. Shimada and Oxton are already on the scene, but more support has been requested in case the situation deteriorates any more than it already has.”

“Talon involved?” Anan asked.

“Unsure, just as likely as it could be them it might just be some assholes out for some violence. As for our current goal, a secondary team’s already been called in to handle the crates, but right now our primary task is stop Barcelona from turning into a second King’s Row.”

The deafening sound of an Orca’s engines filled his ears as the massive support craft flew overheard towards the widened opening at the entrance to the narrow pass. Tossing his cigarette off to the side, he stepped on it with the heel of his boot before pulling down his helmet and sealing it to his armor.

“What happened there?”

“It wasn’t pretty.”

Adrian took one last glance at the massacre behind them, sighing as he hopped onto the back of the Orca, looking out upon the vast landscape stretching out before him as the aircraft rose into the air. From starting a bloodbath to preventing one, maybe the gods in this new world deiced Adrian had been sitting on his ass too long or maybe they simply had a sick sense of humor.


	33. Like Clockwork...

**Skies Above Spain**

Adrian’s foot restlessly tapped against the metal floor of the airship as it hurtled through the storm filled sky, the sound of rain pattering against the hull echoed throughout the enclosed space. Though it was only around half-way through the trip when he questioned how exactly they would make their ‘landing’ in Barcelona. Despite their work in Russia it seemed Overwatch was still hesitant too make themselves any more known then they had too, especially with regards to who was a member of Overwatch. It had come as a bit of surprise for him to learn that the kid Song wasn’t actually known to be in Overwatch despite her flagrant showcasing of the action, instead it seemed the general public though she was either still apart of the Korean military or involved in some “super-secret spec ops team” to quote the pipsqueak. Hence why he was admittedly curious as to how this would play out, though given the general flexibility that existed he wouldn’t be surprised if Winston hadn’t thought this far either. He widened his eyes in surprise when a heavy object landed in his lap, looking up he saw the red visor of Morrison staring back at him.

“Here’s your ticket off this plane.” He grunted.

Adrian grabbed the item in his hands, turning it over a few times before the realization dawned on him, “A jet pack, is this rated for MFF at this altitude?”

“As long as you don’t mind the feeling of your teeth rattling inside your skull, you’ll live.”

Adrian chuckled, if that was the worst it got than this was a damn cakewalk to compared to even the smoothest drops he’d experienced. Looking it over, it seemed to attach via series of magnetic locks with some form of nylon fastenings for assurance. It was sleeker than the ones utilized by the UNSC, though to fair those were often weighted to also be compatible with spartan units, so they went with the idea of ‘better overboard than not enough’. Meanwhile while the one in his hands were far from light, it reminded him of the Sangheili spec ops units with their sleek propulsion packs.

Standing up, he tossed the pack to Jack who caught it swiftly as he turned to face away from the man. Morrison began to quickly attach the jetpack to Adrian’s gear, a noticeable weight added to his already hefty ODST armor. He rolled his shoulders to get a feeling for the flexibility, thankfully it didn’t hinder him much though it wouldn’t give him much maneuverability if someone snuck up from behind. Turning to where he was seated, he spied his assortment of weapons laid out on the seats, the SOCOM and M7S were staples of his arsenal though he’d need something a bit more compact for the city streets if things got heated. His only freshly used beam rifle would sadly have to stay, it was absolutely massive at only a few inches shorter than himself. The assault rifle would normally be a solid choice, but it looked like he’d be on overwatch, no pun intended, so he grabbed the BR-55. Switching the firing mode to semi-auto he remembered something he stuffed in his pack ages ago. Rifling through the various material he puled out an unused silencer, if shit hit the fan the sound wouldn’t matter much but hiding his muzzle flash could be the matter of life and death especially when it was only a couple hours from midnight.

“Guessing from the lack of extra packs, you ain’t jumping with me?” Adrian questioned as he turned to faced Morrison as Ana walked up from behind him.

“Hah! In our age? I don’t think so, this fool might just be crazy enough to do it, but he wouldn’t go on while leaving me alone.” Ana joked as she patted Jack on the shoulder, he shot her a glare from behind his visor.

“You don’t look a day over twenty Amari.”

“Nice of you to say, but for me the older the better.”

“Well it seems we can agree on that.” He jested before the pilot announced they were close to the drop zone. “Where are you two getting off then?”

“Edge of the Omnic district to scope any for any activity.” Morrison answered with his usual stoicism, “Remember our primary objective is to keep the situation from getting any worse, it might be Talon, it might be some asshole punks, but that doesn’t matter. Oxton’s on the ground keeping an eye on things, you and Shimada are on the rooftops spying for any unusual activity. Protests on both sides have gained momentum in the streets with local Omnic and human leaders planning a speech on the recent events.”

“Keep the crowds from killing each other, stop anyone from trying to exacerbate the problems, and make sure the speakers get their chance to talk. That about cover it?”

Morrison gave a curt nod as the back hatch of the Orca opened causing cold air to rush into the bay with Adrian turning to see the stormy weather below them, awaiting him to embrace it’s dark embrace. Rain poured from the dusky, thick clouds to the city below with no lightning as far as Adrian could see…which was admittedly not very far at all in the near midnight sky. Still thank god for small miracles right?

Fully equipped, Adrian stepped towards the edge of the aircraft as the turbulent wind began to grow louder. The familiar feeling of adrenaline rushing through his veins before a drop brought back the memoires of his first few drops, the constant uncertainty mixed with inexplicable excitement. Shaking his hands, he listened for the pilot to give the all clear, taking a couple steps back his comms crackled to life.

“Get ready to drop in 3…”

The sound of his breath echoed in his helmet, the pilot’s voice like a faint whisper int eh background.

“2…”

He curled his fingers as he hopped on his toes, anxious excitement filled within him.

“1…”

He felt the muscles in his legs tighten.

“Go go go!”

He began to run across the metal floor, his pounding footsteps echoing throughout the inner hull as he saw the end of the hatch in front of him. When he neared the end he pushed off his legs, jumping with a flourishing somersault into the open air below him. The sound of his breathing grew louder, now the only thing he could hear as the dark clouds below him drew ever closer. Straightening his body into a vertical dive the wind whipped around him as he plummeted through the air before eventually punching through the swollen clouds like a bullet.

His entire vision became dark, his already limited vision becoming practically non-existent as he tore through the clouds. His visor became splattered with water as it rushed by him, with each second only increasing the intensity of the water he cut through. It was at this moment he realized how much he’d missed the life-or-death feeling of a drop, nothing else was like it, nothing else could ever hope to be like, his mind flashed to his old pod now sitting in the Overwatch workshop like a memento of his life.

Finally cutting through the clouds, the cityscape of Barcelona opened up before him, its vivid lights illuminating the otherwise black void of a landscape. Easing up on his vertical bullet drop, he brought his body to lay horizontal across the sky, his chest parallel with the ground thousands of meters below him. Raising his arms out in front of him, he could feel his velocity slow though not by much, the trade off was the greater degree of control he held. His landing spot was highlighted through his H.U.D, tilting his body slightly to the right he felt himself move through the air as he continued his descent. A lightning strike far off in the distance caught his attention as he began to chuckle to himself, it’d be one hell of a shitty end for him to make it through everything he had only to meet his death through a one-in-a-lifetime lightning strike and end with his body splattered against the pavement in Barcelona.

Once he passed 1,500 meters Adrian went vertical once more, this time his legs aimed towards the ground as he started up the sleek jetpack attached to himself. He could feel the heat blasting forth from the jets as he stared down to the city growing ever more expansive below him. As the propulsion jets fought against his descent, he could feel himself slowing down through the air, despite the roaring wind whipping around him the whine of the engine’s being pushed to their limits cut through the noise.

When he was just a few hundred feet above the rooftops of Barcelona he braced his body for a rough landing, bending his knees just slightly to allow for a smother transition into a roll so he wouldn’t end up shattering his ankles. The tarred roofs became ever clearer as he screamed down towards them, he took a few deep breaths as he neared his landing zone before cutting the jetpack’s propulsion a couple meters above the roof. As soon as he felt he tips of his toes hit solid ground he braced himself for an ugly roll as he curled up, hitting the roof with a nasty screech as his armor scrapped against the gravelly tiling of the roof. After a couple rolls to slow the momentum he uncurled, shooting his legs out in front of him as his heavy heels dug into the roof. His boots hit the lip of the roof with a soft thud, he sighed in relief as he pushed himself off the ground and radioed to the others.

“This is Kasporov, I’m on the ground with a view over the city.”

“Nice of you to join us mate, heard you came in like Mary Poppins.” Oxton’s cheerful voice spoke up.

“Who?” Adrian questioned as he pulled out his battle rifle, scanning the rooftops for any unusual activity.

“Augh nevermind, I’ll fill you in. I’ve been in the streets gathering information where I can while Shimada’s been covering the roofs like yourself, though I suppose I’ve just repeating the briefing. Though we’ve figured out the cause for the bombing, doesn’t look like Talon is involved but they may decide to show up later to stir the pot.”

Adrian nodded to himself as he stepped over the lip and slid down the slanted tile roofing before jumping off onto a flat-topped building right next door. “Wouldn’t put it past them, what caused this shit show though?”

This time Genji’s voice filled his helmet, “Ignorance. A new medical wing was being constructed at a nearby medical pavilion, specifically to cater to the needs of Omnics. Previously our sentient brethren would need to seek out less than reputable backdoor dealers to solve their ills as the state had not yet seen fit to grant a portion of their population with basic care. Regardless, several pro-integration leagues across the globe pitched into fund a state-sponsored medical and repair facility for Omnics. Whether this information was ever circulated or simply ignored it does not matter, a number of hate-fueled people propagated the idea that such a wing was being built from the public taxes, building this idea that Omnics were receiving priority over humans.”

Shimada didn’t need to continue, it didn’t take a genius to figure out where things had led, “And the bombing was in retaliation for this supposed slight.”

“ _Hai_ , more so it was targeted on an incoming delivery for this new medical wing. All the supplies have been stolen with no leads on who could’ve done it or where the supplies ended up.”

“So we’ve got another job to add to our long list of growing concerns boys, though not our priority. If we can get a lead on where these supplies were taken all the better, but remember our main goal is to keep the peace as best we can.” Lena reminded them.

Adrian grunted in agreement before kneeling near the edge of the roof, peering down the scope of his BR as he looked over the bustling streets. At the near end of the street to his right was the aforementioned medical pavilion, a large swatch of people were standing around it in a conglomerated mass as more people swarmed to it with every second. Looking to his right, he saw a large stone building standing tall against the moonlight; a good vantage point and closer to the heart of the issue. Standing up he briefly jogged before activating the thrusters on his jetpack as he tore through the air until landing into a practiced crouch with a quiet thump of his boots.

Making his way to one of the corners that overlooked the street, he laid his back against the wall as he perched his rifle atop the lip of the roof that faced the street. “Shimada, you had any encounters or anything I should be keeping an eye out for?”

“Its not helpful but the shadiest characters are unironically the ones that are posing the biggest issue. My armor comes with…various perks and through that I’ve found a small number of violence seeking bigots carrying tools to cause even greater mayhem. Be careful as some have even more surprises, a few attempted to use them on me in many failed efforts.” He chuckled before going silent into thought before speaking again once more, “Though keep a watchful eye out for roving bands, prior to our involvement there was reports of gangs grouping up on lone Omnics or intermingling couples. I personally haven’t seen anything though I am but one man.”

“Much appreciated.” Adrian replied curtly as he resumed scooping out the city streets for the next dozen or so minutes with nothing to remark on, he noticed a steadily growing presence of the local officers so perhaps that was deterring any major moves on either side. He sent an extra minute scanning the rooftops before he stood up and moved onto another vantage point. Jumping, scaling, and jetpacking his way across the Barcelonan rooftops he kept one ear focused on the chatter of the other Overwatch agents and the other open for commotion on the streets.

Nestling into another nook in the corner, he noticed that the flow of people was slowly turning into a mere trickle. As the night grew on, he suspected the crowed wouldn’t grow much bigger than this, eventually it may even start to thin, depending on when the local leaders made their speech which he suspected would be fairly soon. Wouldn’t do much good to give some rousing, unifying sermon when almost everyone was asleep. As his scoped passed over the road below him, his eye caught sight of something hiding in the darkness of a small alley, a quick flash of light and the smallest dot of a burn. Someone was camping out in the side passage smoking, as he focused in on the alley, he could make out three…maybe four separate forms standing together. They would certainly fit the Genji’s description for “shady characters”, though lacking the ninja’s supposedly special equipment he couldn’t make a move until he knew something would happen. Regardless he kept his focus on them, especially when he noticed the cigarette was tossed on the ground and snuffed out, vaguely he could see one pointing out from the alleyway. Following their direction, he spied their likely target, a female human wearing a vibrant light coat and an Omnic in a flowing summer dress with a clear poncho over their clothes, walking hand-in-hand towards the protests,

He sighed in disgust, he’d prayed that what his instincts were telling him was wrong but given the circumstances and the fact his instincts hadn’t led him astray once, he didn’t have high hopes. As the couple drew near to the thugs lying in wait, he holstered his rifle while backing up a few paces. When there was at least a foot between him and the edge of the roof he began to sprint before jumping and activating the thrusters on his pack, lobbing him in a wide arc over the lit street below. He landed with a clean roll on the roof of the building the created one part of the alley, as he stood up, he could hear the start of the commotion echoing up from the tight alley.

The voice of the young woman rose up followed by what he assumed was the Omnic based on it’s slightly synthetic feminine sound. He couldn’t understand one cent of what they were saying, but it didn’t take a linguist to know that it wasn’t pleasant. As a scream ripped through the night sky he hauled over the end of the building where he could look into the alleyway, he saw that the four thugs had pushed the couple into a dead-end and blocked their way out. The Omnic was laying on the wet asphalt as one of the men had their foot pushing heavily down on it’s head, the young human looked like she was tearing the other three a new asshole. He could hear the pure venom in her voice as she spit every word before going silent as one of the men slapped her red while ripping off her light jacket and tearing her blouse in two, exposing her bare skin to the weather. She tried to keep on the attack, but it grew harder once it was clear the men wanted to do more than just thrash some Omnic.

Having wasted enough time, Adrian spied what looked to be the leader in the center of the trio who was unbuttoning his trousers and pulling them. Jumping off the two-story building he landed on top of the bastard with a sickening crunch, the other three turned towards him in shock and surprise. Ignoring the one currently under his boot, that left three, the furthest one was still standing atop the Omnic, the second furthest was the guy halfway through undressing the poor girl, and the closest was right next to him… the poor son of a bitch.

Lashing out with a right hook, his armored fist landed with a crack sending the wall spinning into the wall of the alley. Taking advantage of his stunned state, Adrian grabbed onto the front of the mans face, digging his fingers into the man’s skull before repeatedly bashing his skull against the brick wall behind him. After he let go the man slumped dumbly down the brick leaving a thick smear of blood, Adrian finished him off by slamming his boot into the man’s face before flicking his head with a snap off his foot. The thug fell to the side with an ungracious thud as Adrian turned to face the other, both sporting horrified expressions on their once repulsively cocky mugs. The clothes ripper shakily pulled a switch blade from his pocket, his fingers trembling as he flicked the knife open, the steel glinting from the lights on the main street. Building up his courage he looked to the man behind him, both nodding as they began to charge Adrian. The furthest one that had previously been stomping the Omnic didn’t make it far as his victim reached out with lightning reflexes and grabbed the man’s ankle in a vice grip. The Omnic slowly got up as it’s hand twisted in a full circle, absolutely shattering the man’s ankle, perks of being a machine he supposed. The man screamed in agony as he fell to the floor, he tried to stand up but could barely even get an inch off the ground before the sound of bone grinding into bone echoed throughout the alley and he fell back to the asphalt an insufferable, sniveling blob. If he wasn’t already passed due to the shock, the human woman made sure he would be when she kicked his head with a form that would’ve made the professional fútbol players of Spain proud.

That only left the man charging him with his pathetic switch blade which Adrian doubted would even be able to pierce the body suit under his armor. Barely even trying, Adrian backstepped as the man shot his arm out to try and stab Adrian which he swatted away from light slap from his hand. The man would probably hurt himself before he even got a scratch on Adrian, though he didn’t have the time to wait that long. When the man swung out again, Adrian grabbed the man’s wrist wielding the knife, he twisted it backwards until the man let the knife drop with a cry of pain. Adrian kicked in the man’s leg with the full force of his boot, when the thug fell to his knee’s Adrian didn’t even spare him a glance as he backhanded the man’s face with a curled fist. The goon blacked out immediately as he hit the ground like a sack of wet concrete, Adrian shook his hand a few times before turning towards the couple now in each other’s embrace at the end of the alley. Crouching down he ripped off the heavy jacket from man’s unconscious form, a jail cell will be warm enough on its own.

As they turned to face him, an avalanche of words burst from their mouths as tears flowed from the human’s eyes. He held out the heavy jacket to the woman, with a gracious nod she slid on the large coat and ran over to him and tightly wrapped him in a hug which Adrian could only awkwardly reciprocate.

“ _Gracias! Gracias! Sabíamos que habría problemas pero no así._ ” The Omnic spoke as the young woman nodded in agreement.

“I uh… _de nada?_ ” He had vague memories of an old squadmate from Earth that was fairly fluent in Spanish but trying to remember any phrases only led his brain to come up blank. “Sorry I don’t speak Spanish…English or on some off-chance Russian?”

The two looked at each other exchanging a couple words before a forced laugh came from both, the Omnic turned to him, “We wanted to thank you, we knew there would be trouble tonight but nothing like this degrading.” She waved her robotic hand out over the unconscious bodies littering the alley way,

Nodding her head again the young woman spoke up with a heavy accent tilting her words, “I just wanted to thank you again for stepping in, I doubt you were the only person to hear but you were the only one to act.”

“I’d get back to your house if you can make it, I doubt things are going to get better the night goes on.”

“You’re right…I hate to leave but…I…” Her words trailed off as the Omnic placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

He stood there awkwardly before clearing his throat, “Calling tonight a mess would be an understatement, but I think getting your thoughts together would best happen in a different location with better company.” He nodded his head to the groaning men behind him. They nodded in agreement before shuffling past him and out into the brightly lit streets of Barcelona, tossing him one last farewell of thanks as they turned around the corner leaving him alone in the alley.

Turning his head to the would-be leader of this group, the one he’d unceremoniously crushed beneath his boots, Adrian walked over to the man and picked him up by his collar. The thug’s eyes cracked open as a groan escape his lips, after a few rough slaps the man’s attention came to focus on Adrian. Uncertainty spread across his features as he shook his head from side to side, trying to think of it as a nightmarish dream until he saw the limp forms of his buddies laying on the ground. The man started to babble, incoherent to even a fluent Spanish speaker as the man was at an utter loss for words as he saw his own reflection staring back at him from the front of Adrian’s visor.

“Listen carefully, my patience tonight was already razor thin but fucks like you are lower than scum, so keep that in mind when you speak or the next things coming out of your mouth won’t be only words.” Adrian growled between clenched teeth.

The man nodded feverishly, “Okay okay okay, I understand!”

“Good, now I’ve got some questions for you and I’ll make sure to start easy.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Adrian shoved the man to the ground as he coughed up a splat off blood onto the wet asphalt, sirens wailed in the distance drawing closer with every second. Adrian used his thrusters to hop up onto the nearest building as he radioed the others, surprisingly the man had been a good source of information even if he had been a depraved piece of shit.

“Kasporov here, I got intel saying that a common meeting ground for a lot of these anti-Omnic groups is some pub called _Cabellas_ on the east side of town. A few blocks away from where the medical pavilion is.”

“Nice job!” Oxton cheered out, “I don’t think I’m too far off, seeing as how I’m the least conspicuous I’ll scope it out on the inside. You and Shimada should make your way here as well in case things get hairy.”

“Alright.” He affirmed as Genji likewise voiced his affirmation. As a new way point appeared on his NAV, Adrian began to cross the cityscape with the use of his jetpack to jump from rooftop to rooftop. Making extra care when lobbing over streets to stay out of easy sight, the last thing he needed was to have concerned citizens reporting in about the mysterious armed stranger leaping across their city.

Wind rushing past him as he was at the apex of jump, he had to admit that he was quite enjoying the freedom that came with this jump pack. Back home the Bullfrogs specialized in this type of urban warfare and traversal, though maybe he could put in a word with the Gunny when he got back to see about investing in this for his squad as well. Just as he was coming down from the peak of his arc, he spied the distinct flash of a muzzle burst not far from his location. Briefly he questioned the target before he felt the impact as the bullet tore through the pack on his back sending him freefalling to the rooftops below him. The ground appeared to scream up in front of him as he tumbled to buildings below him, hitting the stone top with a tumbling crash as he tried to salvage his landing. His shoulder took the brunt of the impact and he let out a muffled yell as he felt it pop out of it’s socket. Coming to a skidding stop on his back, he pushed himself up with his one good arm as his other hung loosely at his side, it swung wildly as he propped himself up on his knee. Biting down with his teeth, he grabbed his limp arm with his good hand and tugged, a squelching pop reverberated across the city skylines as he let out a pained wheeze.

Rolling his shoulder for a quick checked, he scanned the rest of the buildings for any sign of his assailant while radioing in his less than fortunate situation, “We’ve got company, someone just clipped my wings mid-flight so now it seems I’m stuck with my own set of problems.”

“Are you in one piece my friend?”

“I’ll live Shimada, I’m more worried about this mysterious sniper than anything else, haven’t see jack-shit since I got my bearings.”

“I will come to your aid, it sounds like the work of the devious Widowmaker, a truly formidable foe.” Genji spoke calmy despite the seemingly dangerous warning he gave Adrian.

Activating his VISR, his vision became filled with a green tint as his helmet began to keep an eye out for any targets ally or foe alike. For a split-second he spied a red outline dashing between junk cluttering the rooftops, so it seemed the sniper was coming to finish him off. If Shimada was right and it was this Widowmaker, then it’d be best to get rid of her as quickly as possible. Holding in his breath to steady his aim, he sat crouched patiently with his finger just barely hovering over the trigger of his battle rifle. The next time the red outline appeared in his vision, he pulled the trigger instantly, his BR barking as a burst of rounds erupted from it’s barrel. In his mind, Adrian had planned to slowly whittle away at the enemy though reality had a different course of action. It seemed that the sniper was not coming to finish him off, but rather check if he had in fact died. His initial burst will a successful hit had ruined any element of surprise he held. Adjusting his crouch at the last second, he felt the sniper’s shot graze the side of his helmet sending sparks flying as he stumbled onto his ass from the close encounter.

“Jesus fuck.” He swore to himself as the gravity of the situation settled in, a good soldier needs to know their strengths and weakness, know their limitations so they don’t get themselves killed. So when the realization that he was in a long-distance shootout against a marksmen trained for this sole purpose, well there wasn’t much to say other than, “Shit.”

“You almost here Shimada? My odds are looking increasingly worse.” He questioned to receive no response. Instead he could here the prattle of gunfire sounding itself across the rooftop, peaking up from his cover he couldn’t see any outlines but it was clear that Genji had arrived at the nick of time.

“I am pushing Widowmaker towards your position, be prepared to fight for your life.”

“How soon until-” He was cut off as a pair of long, slim legs clad in the tightest skinsuit he’d ever seen vaulted over his position to reveal…a purple…woman. Ignoring his stunned disbelief, he began to open fire on the woman as she landed, avoid his shots with a practiced ease though he could see a faint splotch of blood where he’d nailed her earlier. She closed the gap between then with incredible speed before high kicking the rifle from his hands with unbelievable agility. He dodged out of the way as she brought the kick down before retailing by kneeing her in the gut with his armor leg. The wind was knocked out of her as she doubled over, surprised at the strength Adrian had exhibited, he followed up his attack by closing his fists together and bringing them down on the back of her hear sending her straight to the ground with a crash.

Wasting no time she flipped herself up with her hands and using her lank legs to wrap around Adrian’s neck before flipping him over herself with surprising force. Adrian landed on his back with a grunt, drawing his pistol he quickly brought himself blindly firing as he brought himself to stand. A few of his shots skimmed her body but the rest went wide as she retreated from their encounter as Shimada’s brought his sword down on top of her. Widowmaker rolled out of the way but not unscathed as Genji landed a nasty cut down her back, she gritted her teeth in pain as she vaulted over the edge of the building and started to disappear into the night with the aid of some grappling hook; though not before leaving them with a final parting gift.

As she zipped away from them, she fired one final shot that nailed Adrian share in the shoulder, her rounds shattering against his plate armor, but the shrapnel tore through his bodysuit underneath. The massive round feeling like it packed the punch of a brute as he stumbled backwards until he feel himself trip over the lip of the roof. His momentum carried him over the edge with the sturdy ground giving way to empty air as he tumbled backwards off the building. The lights of Barcelona became clear as he gained a bird’s eye view of them, the cars growing ever closer until he felt a tug on his ankle stopping him in his tracks. Peering up from his awkward position he saw Genji hanging halfway off the building with one hand on the edge and the other tightly wrapped around his ankle. With little effort the cyborg ninja pulled Adrian up onto the roof as he looked over Adrian’s wound.

“Thanks for the assist.” Adrian breathed out as the pain in his shoulder grew.

Shimada sat down next to Adrian, looking over the vibrant city, “We will have another chance at Widowmaker, but friends only come around once. Besides I would assume she was here to assassinate one of the two local leaders; our involvement already ruined her plans. That alone is a victory worth celebrating.”

Pushing himself into a sitting position Adrian sighed, “What a fucking night.”


	34. Weightless Again

**Sandrezki City, Coetzee II, Basker System**

**2545**

_Adrian squirmed in anguish as he was carried into the medical tent on a stretcher, agonized grunts escaped his lips as he shut his teeth to try to break out from yelling. Cracking his eyes open as his head lulled to the side, he could easily spy the massive metal spike protruding from his shoulder, no longer red hot but still sizzling as it continued to scorch his flesh with every passing second. It passed through his armor like a warm knife through butter, lodging itself to the concrete wall behind him it took a medical steel cuter to free him for his hanging imprisonment. His squad along with a handful of other ODST squads had been pulled from their current assignment to protect the last of the civilian evacs from the city in a desperate attempt to halt the Covenant advance. He wasn’t sure how well it had been working considering it seemed they were always moving back._

_He’d been sitting in half-assed attempt with Mistress, shooting the shit about what she planned to do on their next shore leave when the covvies started up another round of bombardment. His body went into autopilot as he began to pop off the grunt fodder as they came into view; Prince had been picking off jackals when his comms crackled before going silent which didn’t leave Adrian with much hope that his squadmate survived. He wasn’t sure when the brutes started there suicidal bull rush, only that one second, he was peeking out his foxhole and the next he found himself tossed back as a pain ruptured in his shoulder with himself stuck to a half-destroyed concrete wall._

_Mistress had tried to pull him off, but the brute’s were sadistic bastards, and any attempt to dislodge the spike just tore more of the muscle in his shoulder. She slammed her pistol into Adrian’s good arm while she went to look for a medic, he wasn’t sure how much good a pistol would do at this range but he tried nonetheless. When some field medic’s finally found him, Adrian felt like his head was spinning with a large pool of blood was growing on the ground under him, he could barely think only vaguely noticing that Mistress wasn’t with them. He had hoped that she’d simply got caught up in the fighting, but reality was never so generous, by the end of this missions only Barbie, Talos, and himself were still kicking though all of them worse for wear._

_When he was unceremoniously dropped onto a medical cot, the pain in his shoulder flared up like a motherfucker. By the time ranking medical officer got around to him, he was so delirious from the pain, shock, and blood loss that he couldn’t remember a single thing from that point on save for the absolute misery and suffering as the brute spiker round was surgically removed from his shoulder. When spiker rounds are first fired, they’re red-hot bullets of pure agony, so when the round has stick into Adrian’s body it’d immediately cauterized all his wounds before ripping them apart again as Adrian’s body weight dragged him down to Earth against the spike imbedded in the wall. Furthermore, the heat had fused bits of his flesh to the metal as it cooled, meaning that when the doctors were taking the spike from his body, they also had to cut the fused flesh as quick as possible. They gave him what little painkillers they had but they did practically nothing. At some point he blackout from the pain which in all honestly was probably for the best considering that the removal of a spiker is only one half of the procedure, the second half is off course biofoam, muscle regeneration, and bone-knitting polymer. The Covenant were awful, but the brute’s were abominations, Adrian’s hatred for them trumped every other species in the covenant ranks._

………

………

………

Adrian’s focus was taken from his thoughts he felt a familiar stinging in his shoulder, blinking a few times he reoriented himself in the Orca has Genji carefully pulled the last bits of bullet shrapnel from his shoulder. Adrian lightly winced a couple times when the larger fragments were pulled but other than that kept silent, once you experience the pain of Covenant weapons it’s hard to find the same fear in human weapons. It still hurt like a motherfucker, but he didn’t have to worry about an equal or even greater suffering in the healing process like he did with plasma or needlers. A faint trickle of blood rolled down Adrian’s shoulder before soaking into a dark grey undershirt as his ODST armor laid peeled back from him. He briefly chuckled to himself at the thought of his left shoulder just being one unlucky son of a bitch.

Shimada looked up from his work, “Something humorous?”

“Nothing much, you almost done here?”

The ninja was silent as he methodically maneuvered the tweezers inside Adrian’s wound before digging out a scrap of metal, “Now we are done.”

“Much appreciated,” He nodded his thanks to Genji before questioning aloud, “though overall the night was a success?”

“More or less I ‘spose, we stopped the situation from growing worse and foiled Widowmaker’s plan though your source didn’t help us get the missing supplies Adrian.” Oxton drearily spoke out from the spot she’d been laying, fruitlessly trying to sleep.

“Never said they guaranteed anything.” Adrian said as he layered up his armor upon him, the troop bay drifting into a comfortable silence before Shimada spoke up.

“Perhaps I simply was not listening, but where were Amari and Morrison or rather where are they now?”

Adrian looked up at that, having completely forgotten the duo during the night though now left as curious as Genji.

“They chose to say behind, pursue other leads though that’s no unusual for them. Morrison’s always preferred to take action himself, even after coming to Gibraltar around a month ago he’s usually been off doing his own thing. Him and Ana seem pretty inseparable, so I’m not surprised they’re off together.” Lena commented as she sat up in her seat, rubbing the weariness from her eyes.

“And no one else thinks that weird?” Adrian looked to his two companions in disbelief, “I get he used to be the commander, but no one’s thought about just even being like, ‘Hey man, where ya headed?’ Damn I wish I had this level of leniency in the USNC, can’t piss without ONI knowing how much I pissed down to the last milliliter.” He grumbled the last part to himself as he stretched reclining into his seat. It was early to mid-morning now and he hadn’t gotten a decent sleep for the last few days let alone any sleep in the last twenty-four hours. Gunny would whoop his ass if he knew how poor a job he was doing of taking care of his own body. Putting his helmet in his lap he was about to close his eyes before Lena spoke up.

“Just know that were only twenty minutes out Adria, not going to get a whole lot of sleep now.”

He said nothing instead trying to focus on his rest, though the more he laid there the more he realized she was right. Grumbling some more he sat up in his seat and blankly stared at the wall across from him, he just wanted to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Angela peeled the rubber gloves from her hands, the sweat causing them to stick much to her frustration as she walked out of her office in the clinic. Tossing them into a bin she scanned the finally near empty clinic, save for a few occupied cots the room was finally down to manageable levels – well manageable enough. Between an accident at the cargo bay and a botched mission overseas, there had been a relatively massive surge of patients that had quickly overwhelmed their small numbers. While the rest of New Overwatch continued to grow it seemed the medical division was once more being left behind. The same thing happened with the original Overwatch where the militaristic capabilities grew at an unprecedented rate while their humanitarian endeavors were left in the dust, she’d have to put in a few strong words with Winston to make sure he understood.

Pushing open the doors of the clinic, she stepped into the corridors of the base with her shoes clacking along the tiled interior. Tucking her messy hair behind her ear, she stretched as she walked down the hall for a quick break, nothing particular on her mind just a walk to keep her occupied. She wasn’t one to smoke and she considered it far too early to be drinking, though she knew Reinhardt would heartily disagree with that. Thinking on her old friend, she realized how quiet it was walking down the halls when most of the team was out with the previously mentioned friend out in South America likely on some grand destruction of Talon’s resources. More than that was the unusually dull atmosphere, with so many gone she’d thrown herself entirely into research and her work, it’d been an odd lull to her days with practically no one to talk to. Though part of her wondered if it wasn’t rather missing the conversation with a specific interdimensional marine. In the couple or so months that Adrian had been here he’d left a rather noticeable impact, though perhaps that’s partly due to the small scale of Overwatch currently. Regardless despite her initial hesitations regarding the man, she’d come to grown fond of his brash though usually warm nature along with his stories that sounded straight out of a science fiction novel. His humor was an acquired taste though lately she found it funnier and funnier, maybe a Stockholm syndrome of some sort, she laughed to herself as she continued to wander the base.

Eventually she found herself outside with the early morning sun high in the sky, taking in a deep breath of fresh air she looked around before spying the vehicle bay and seeing a familiar pink mech being tinkered with. Making her way over the clanging of tools became louder as she neared, eventually she could faintly hear a string of Korean curses emanating from inside the mech.

“Hope you know what you’re doing in there?” Angela called out, a grin on her face.

The tinkering stopped before the head of a young girl covered in grease and oil popped out from the interior of the machine, “Angela! You know I only take the best care of Tokki, I’m almost insulted. What are you doing here though, isn’t the clinic busy?”

“Was busy, my assistants can handle the rest while I took a break. I just needed a reprieve from the work, so I’ve just been walking. It’s odd though with most of the agents gone.”

Hana pulled herself out of the mech and slide down its hull before landing next to Ziegler, “Right? It’s like kinda spooky, but also boring. There’s nothing to do. Though I did see that the Barcelona team is coming back today.”

Angela shot her a pointed glance, “Really? Were you rifling through the databases again!”

“But its sooooo boooorrrriiiinnnngggg.” Hana groaned with exaggerated dramatics, making sure to draw out each word. When the last syllable left her mouth, the sound of an Orca’s roaring engines could be heard coming in, the aircraft casting a wide shadow as it hovered above the base.

“Speak of the devil.” Angela muttered.

“Time to talk with Arian now?” Hana shot her a sly grin.

Angela coughed in surprise, “What?”

“It’s not hard to see you two have grown close, and Adrian was part of the Barcelona team soooo…”

“Well I – Umm was thinking of greeting him.” Hana reveled in a flustered Angela; it was cute to see the older doctor shy like a schoolgirl. “But that’s it, we’re both professionals in a delicate profession, we see each other as friends and nothing more.”

“Whatever you say, just know that even in his worst moods Adrian ignores just about everyone except you.” Hana spoke.

Angela gave her a surprised yet disapproving look before walking off towards the Orca as it landed, the hatch opening to provide an inclined walkway as the passengers began to disembark. Hana hoped back onto Tokki, watching from her perch as Lena exited first, followed by Genji and finally Adrian. Hana sat with unbridled glee, she’d always had a soft spot for the cheesy k-dramas back home and this was like a free reality showing. Despite what Angela may have thought, she wasn’t joking, Adrian could be an enjoyable person to be around though at his heart he was a brash veteran. Looking on she could see the dark bags under Adrian’s eyes, the tight frown on his lips, the overall aura of a grumpy old man who wants nothing more than to be alone. She watched with intrigue as Angela approached the old man in the young man’s body, calling out to him and offering him a wide wave with a warm smile.

Adrian turned to the Swiss doctor, his frown turning into a surprisingly welcoming smile despite it all, his eyes still looked like Adrian was going to drop dead any second, but they gained a mirthful spark when they landed upon Ziegler. The two began to talk animatedly in spite of their taxing work, Hana smirked as the two walked out of her view and into the base. She went back into the interior of her mech laughing to herself, she gave them a few more weeks at the most. Now…where the hell did she leave her torque wrench.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Laying splayed out on the bed on his room so far into the realm of dreams that he didn’t hear the first volley of knocking nor the shouts of his name. It was only when he was kicked off the bed by a leather boot did Adrian wake up to the waking world with dazed expression.

“What the absolute fuck is this. What cardinal sin did I do to deserve this?” Adrian grumbled as he groggily pushed himself off the floor.

“Became a marine, don’t worry we all make stupid decisions.” A southern drawl rang out.

Adrian looked up to see a smirking McCree standing on the opposite side of his bed, “Fair enough, just give me a firm slap to get the blood running.”

Jesse gave a half-hearted shrug before walking around the bed and winding up his arm for a smack of the ages, when hand met face the sound echoed through the crew quarters like a jet breaking the sound barrier. Adrian stumbled into the wall of his room while swearing up a storm, he took a deep breath as he regained his footing.

“Good partner?”

Adrian blinked a few times, “More or less, we got a mission?”

McCree nodded and walked out the door, Adrian fell in beside him as the two made their way to Winston’s lab, “Though from what the big guy told me this is prep for a big one, the real thing won’t be for a couple weeks at the earliest, but he wants us to be ready.”

“You mean we’ll actually have a plan? This still seems like a dream to me.”

“Heh I wouldn’t get your hopes up too high, Winston’s plans tend to outrun practicality so best case it’s gonna be up to us to improvise.”

“Figured. Where’ve you been though?” Adrian wondered as the two turned past a corner.

“Some ghost town in mid-west America, heard tales of an old gang I know running a racket through it. Got there only to find out they’d just decided to move shop the day before, so I spent most of my time trying to play catch-up to a bunch of mercs on the run.”

“You catch them?”

McCree snorted, “Course, I never let a bounty get away. Eventually I learned where their next job was going to be, so I got there a ways before they were even in the state and had some fun just killing time. Eventually they came around to my neck of the woods and well…I don’t think the leader was expecting to see the bottom of my boot.”

“That makes two of us.”

Jesse laughed at Adrian’s expense before the two walked into the lab, already seeing several the Overwatch agents in the room. They took the nearest open seats before briefly finishing up their conversation until Winston cleared his throat as everyone he had summoned was present.

“Alright everyone listen up, we’ve got a big mission coming up soon. Our contacts in the Russian government had let us on some very crucial information regarding our elusive friend Mr. Kim.” A round of groan broke out in the room, “I know we’re all tired of hearing his name, but the fact stands that this is the best chance we’ve had in ages and we don’t have the luxury to pass this up.”

“What do they get from this?” Fareeha spoke up.

“I’m glad you asked.” He pulled up a picture of a bald man with a greying beard pushing into his senior years, “This is Boris Gregori, a powerful Russian oligarch who until just recently was one of the Russian presidents most trusted private advisors. It will come as little surprise for most of you to learn that he was tied to numerous underground organizations, however the state was willing to overlook those in favor of the connections he had at his disposal. However, it has recently come to the attention of the government that one of those ties is Talon…who are of course supplying arms to numerous radical factions within the country.”

“So basically, they want us to clean up their fucking mess then huh?” McCree questioned.

Winston nodded, “Normally as you know I would never accept this type of job, wet-work is not something we do here however his main contact with Talon is Mr. Kim as it seems that Boris a leading man in backing Talon’s arm dealing. The Russian government see his as a mutually beneficial agreement to which I’m inclined to agree with, they don’t care what happens with Boris Gregori as long as he’s out of the equation, Meaning we get a powerful Talon associate that likely won’t be afraid to talk if he thinks it will spare him the consequences.”

“This is great and all, but his security isn’t gonna be a pushover for a man as powerful as he is.” Adrian brought up, unlike Winston, wet work was one of his specialties, so he knew how fucked this plan was unless the ape had a way to get them into the building.

“I’m aware Mr. Kasporov, which is why I’d like to now present to you the second part of this meeting.” The slide changed to a Boris handing a golden award to a well-dressed man with a large banner behind them saying ‘Global Scientific Advancement’, “As it turns out, despite Boris less than savory qualities he is in fact a large patron of the scientific community, though its speculated this is just so he can then purchase the technology for his own privatized use later, but I digress. And as it turns out, we have one of our very own leading global scientists right here at Gibraltar, of which it is rumored that Boris Gregori is a very fond supporter of.”

“Winston, I will not be used as bait and my work monopolized!”

Winston gulped before raising his hands defensively, “Of course of course, which is why I have more to say.” Angela glared at him before waving him on, “You’ve been petitioning for a greater public presence of your research to which I will admit I have been lacking on, after this I believe we should discuss future plans but for now it is necessary. As a bonus however, there are a myriad of renowned scholars from across the globe, for while Boris sees it as a personal auction many in the scientific community see it as a welcomed gathering of some of the greatest minds. Your work will be presented in front of a large crowed of the brightest minds, I don’t intend to take that away, and considering you are rumored to be a favorite of Boris I have no doubt he’ll give you priority to speak your piece.”

The glare from Angela had softened and she nodded, “Good, if I can get my work out to a larger populace then all the better.”

“Now as for the actual plan as I’m sure many of you have been waiting for. Angela is our invitation onto his premise and entrance to his fortified private quarters, however she will not be going alone. Among the scientists are many of the local elites of which they all have personal protection, Angela will be following in their steps and be bringing along his own small unit of bodyguards, considering the event it’s unlikely that it will raise any suspicion. The event goes on for almost the entirety of the day, meaning there will be plenty of opportunity to extract the target or interrogate him in a private location as you see fit. As for who will be accompanying Doctor Ziegler, I already have three candidates chosen though I am also open to hearing other suggestions as well. Jesse, Fareeha, and Adrian are my recommendations for this task.”

Adrian choked on nothing as he heard those, “Excuse me but what the hell?”

“You have an objection Adrian?”

“I’m not a bodyguard, let alone dressing in some stiff suit to mingle with a bunch of stuck-up fucks.”

“Trust me Adrian I know that very well, however you’re the only fluent Russian speaker we have at our disposal. Boris may take a liking to you or perhaps you can skim some info from any number of the workers or the ‘stuck-up fucks’.” Winston make quotes with his chubby fingers, “I know it’s less than ideal for you but frankly you’re a vital part of this operation.”

Adrian leaned back in his chair, grinding his teeth, “Fine, whatever.”

“Good, now any other objections?” McCree and Amari both shook their head before Torbjorn spoke up.

“Aye, what about me? Put that bratty kid on some other mission and I’ll take the lead.”

“Nice try dwarf, but I’ve found a better personality in my drill sergeant’s shits.” Adrian bit back without shifting his gaze from the projection.

Brigette called her father before all hell broke loose and Winston quickly ended the meeting, glad that he’d managed to get through the whole thing. He gently removed his glasses and rubbed his forehead before he remembered that his work wasn’t done. “Ah Adrian, could I speak to you.”

Adrian sighed before turning on his heel and walking towards the center of the lab as the other filled out, “What now?”

“Listen I apologize about the mission but as I mentioned your skills are-”

“Look its done, just get to the point.”

“Ah right…anyway I wanted to let you know that we’re making good progress on the slipspace portals. I don’t know if we’re close to the physical testing, but we’ve actually made good progress with the theoretical equations.”

Any annoyance Adrian had started to fade away, “That’s actually… good news to hear. Anything else?”

“Just one thing, there’s been a lack of recent slipspace ruptures which has been lucky enough for us I suppose however something caught my eye just before I called the meeting. My station was pinged for the anomaly, but the thing is the energy disruptions was…small…larger than almost all the debris but not quite as big as the first individual Sangheili drop-pod I marked as our first encounter.”

Adrian felt his mouth fall open, “Are you saying…what I think you’re saying Adrian.”

Winston cleared his throat before staring Adrian straight in the eyes, “I went back through our data records, back to when you first came here.” Winston took a deep breath, “The energy signatures match Adrian, the new slipspace entry is damn near the exact same as your ODST pod. If we can get to them, I don’t think you’ll be alone here anymore Adrian.”


	35. Reunion

**Forests of the Tell Atlas Mountain Range, Algeria, Africa**

“All I’m saying is better safe than sorry.”

“So you can give them the same welcoming you gave me?”

“Fair point.”

“Exactly, so when we get near the drop pod, you stay back and let me handle the talking. You were lucky it was me who landed, not all ODSTs are as amiable as I am…or have anything above average intelligence but that’s beside the point. Besides seeing a cowboy isn’t gonna help much to convince them of the situation.”

McCree scoffed, “You said something like that when you first landed here.”

“I wonder why.” Adrian replied dryly as the two hiked through the lightly wooded terrain, keeping an eye out for any unusual activity. Adrian dropped off a small ledge as Jesse followed behind him, a stealth transport shipped that Winston called the Swordfish circled overhead in the clouds. Prepared to drop atmosphere at a moment’s notice for a quick getaway, the slipspace rupture had occurred unfortunately close to a number of populous cities meaning that time was against them if they wanted to get to the landing zone

“If you’ll enlighten a poor ole southern boy like myself, “McCree drawled with an exaggerated accent, “What guarantee is it that its someone like you?”

“A charmingly roughish man with a steeled exterior that secretly harbors a heart of gold?”

“You know what I mean, or – and this is from a more cynical perspective – what’s to guarantee they’re still alive?”

Adrian nodded, “Well there is no guarantee, but the survival rates of past encounters has been pretty high so I’m cautiously optimistic.”

“You didn’t answer my first question, what if it’s more damn aliens?”

“Well the covvie drop pod equivalents are pretty damn big, enough to fit Reinhardt in at least because they’re meant to be used by every race in the Covenant which according to Winston would cause a greater energy disruption or whatever. Anyway it can’t be a regular old or rather if it is they’ll be dead on arrival, they wouldn’t know how to operate the pod and their gear lacks force compression like ours do. A spartan could easily survive though they’d be too big to fit in the drop pod and they’ve got their own orbital drop rated gear but as a whole they’re small than a drop pod. Process of elimination and well…it’s either a guaranteed dead marine, or a fifty-fifty ODST.”

“How bout you run that by me _one_ more time, wasn’t paying attention the first time.” McCree jested.

Adrian sighed as the two broke into a clearing, a wide field of flowers opened up before them. Like something out of a painting which would’ve been nice to admire had the two not been on an urgent mission. The two crossed the path of flowers, the sun above them a little past it’s peak casting a warm glow upon them. Halfway through the field a crackling sound stopped them in them in their tracks. Looking up Adrian spied what appeared to be a far smaller and far cruder slipspace portal utilized by the Covenant. Not long after their eyes became glued to the tear above them, a black object shot out followed by the thunderous crack of a sonic boom as it rocketed towards the ground near them. It crashed with an explosive clap, a shockwave blasting out as it tore up the earth in the surrounding area sending Adrian and Jesse stumbling back onto their backs. The two recovered quickly as Adrian felt a pit of dread growing within his stomach like a parasite as he saw the crashed object.

“Jesus Adrian ain’t that-”

“Fucking shit!” He dashed over the drop pod, its bottom still smoldering in the dirt as it laid motionless with its parachute only barely deployed.

“Is this an older model? Your didn’t land with a parachute.” Jesse questioned as he ran behind Adrian, the two moving to the opposite sides of the windowed hatch.

“The parachute’s meant to slow landing speed at the half-way point of the drop before releasing the pod as the thrusters kick in. The fact that we still see a parachute means that it landed too early.”

“Christ.”

As the two dug their fingers under the hatch, they began to pull with all their might, heaving backwards until they heard a click as the hatch broke free of the pod. Tossing the metal sheet aside, McCree stood back as Adrian ran to the interior of the pod. The distinct armor of an ODST sat unmoving in the seat as a faint patch of blood began to soak through the under suit around the neck. Adrian quickly moved into the pod and removed the helmet, revealing a young boy only a couple years older than Hana. Blood pooled from his mouth as his eyes cracked open just a touch, confusion and fear dominated the boy’s eyes before a small hint of recognition shown in them as he gazed upon a fellow ODST. He tried to speak but his body was shaking, tears welled in the kid’s eyes as he coughed out the pooling blood with a disgustingly familiar chunk of muscle hitting the pod floor.

Adrian shut his eyes and clenched his teeth for a split second before taking deep breaths and removing his helmet. The boy was going to die, that much was certain. Shock has his body shivering in convulsions, the landing was far too rough probably causing a number of internal hemorrhages, any number of bones could be shattered from the impact, and perhaps worst of all the kid couldn’t say any final words because he’d bitten off his own tongue on impact. The whole war was just a waste of lives, but it felt pitifully wrong to have this kid not even die in his own universe. Dying on Earth might’ve had some impact if it was their own, or if this kid even knew what the hell was happening. Looking the kid straight in the eyes, he grabbed the kid’s hand in his own as it laid there upon his lap lightly twitching. With his other hand he put it on the side of the kid’s head so he could at least have some semblance of human contact before he passed.

“Look at me, you did a damn fine job. You made your family proud; you made your brothers and sisters in the UNSC proud, you made that pain in the ass drill sergeant from boot proud.” Adrian spoke softly as the young man tried to chuckle at the end but only ended splattering Adrian with blood. He didn’t mind, he kept the smile on his face as he reached down to the trauma pack of his thigh. His fingers brushed over a syringe that he grasped onto as he continued to talk to the boy, “You train on Reach? Did you know a Sergeant Brewer? No shit, she was the meanest son of a bitch I ever saw. Once a buddy of mine addressed her as sir instead of ma’am, that poor bastard was running laps till the morning.” Adrian kept rambling as he slid the needle into the kid’s leg, pressing down on the syringe until it was empty. Eventually the kid’s focus started to fade as his face took on the look of serene peace, his family would never know the fate that befell their child leaving a painless death the only mercy that Adrian could give.

It made him feel sick.

Reaching around the kid’s neck Adrian pulled the dog tags off and took a closer look at them, _Private Feng Mian_. He stuffed them into his breast pocket before reaching under Mian’s chest plate for the familiar touch of a soft cloth flag. Finding what he needed, he pulled it out and flapped it open laying across the lap of the dead ODST before laying the helmet ontop of the ensemble.

“Shattered Glass this is Kasporov over.” Adrian radioed the Swordfish flying high.

_“Roger Kasporov, what do you need? Over.”_

“Got a casualty, requesting immediate retrieval for safeguard. Load everything in the area, and treat the body with respect, he’s earned it. Over.”

_“Affirmative, dropping from atmosphere now, over and out.”_

With a sigh he turned from the crashed pod nodding to McCree as they continued to their path to the original crash site though now with a faster quicker pace. At a light jog they left the meadow and returned once more to the conifer forest with a growing urgency with every passing second.

“Did you know the ODST back there?” Jesse spoke up from beside Adrian.

“No, but he was just so damn young.”

McCree shook his head in disgust, “It’s a shame, you know what I’m talking about. Their whole life ahead of them just put to a stop. Though your situation is beings tuck between a rock a hard place, either option is shit frankly.”

“Especially for the poor bastards growing up in the tail end of this war, born just in time to live a life of constant fear where aliens raze the Earth and the last thing, you’ll think of is the extinction of humanity. What a fucking life.” Adrian growled out the last sentence as they continued on in silence as his thoughts were ablaze. He’d briefly mentioned a thought to Winston that he hadn’t taken stock of and at this point still didn’t put his backing behind it, but it made an apt feeling. Before he came this shit didn’t happen, a few debris would come through but that’s just glorified space junk. Though once he landed, one he made an impact on this world it seemed as if the universe sought one thing and that was to get him the fuck outta here or lately with that baring minimal success, just to kill him outright.

Did he believe that the cosmic forces of the universe were conspiring against him? No as in his mind that’s one of the dumbest fucking things he’d ever heard of, he was just throwing shit at the wall for lack of any real explanation. It’s just as likely that the worst damn luck existed for him and him alone at this period, maybe the collective hotpot of bad luck was actively taking a shit on his time spent here. If they couldn’t get him to leave, and they couldn’t kill him, then they’d just further brutalize his psychological state by killing some poor kid that probably hadn’t even gotten to third base.

A hand pressed to his chest tore him from his thoughts and quite literally stopped him in his tracks, looking to the side he saw McCree with his arm extended across his body. Jesse rose a single finger to his lips before Adrian could even ask as the cowboy focused on their environment. Following suit Adrian listened to the woods, he almost thought to ask Jesse to elaborate before a brief sputtering of noise caught his ear – gunfire. None of the possible outcomes were exactly good, it just gave a silver lining that one part of the fighting symphony was the ODST they were sent here to find in the first place.

Wasting no time, the two bolted in the direction of the previously heard gunfire dashing past trees and shrubbery to hopefully stop the mission from being a complete failure. Adrian’s armored boots pounded against the grassy dirt sending up chunks of earth with each forceful step. A large boulder laid in front of him that he easily cleared by sliding over it, sparks flying as his composite armor scraped against the rock. Continuing the sprint without dropping his pace, Adrian continued his run until he came across a ruined section of the forest. Tree limbs shattered, entire stumps uprooted and a blackened path in the ground where all the surrounding vegetation was burnt to a crisp. Following the path of destruction led to another ODST drop pod, though this one thankfully having avoided the crushing doom of the last. Its hatch laid meters away, obviously having been blasted off from the inside which was already a blessing in itself.

Bringing his battle rifle to bear, Adrian slowly walked up to the pod as McCree followed at a distance. As he neared the drop pod, he raised himself to peak inside to an unsurprisingly empty vessel. The new question raised was where the hell was their missing trooper. Heavy gunfire didn’t erupt in the middle of the Algerian mountains because some idiots thought it’d be fun, a conflict evidently happened and Adrian would bet his life that his comrade was involved. The second question was against who, though once more he had a hunch that they were involved with the local military. Though for the sake of all parties involved he hoped his latter guess would end up being wrong, sometimes it pays not to be right.

Another brief burst of weapons fire drew their attention to the east where it seemed to silence once and more all. Nodding towards McCree, Adrian took point as they moved away from the crash site but now before activating a small beacon and tossing it into the empty pod. Looking towards the ground he could see boot prints in the soft dirt, the sole prints matching standard issue ODST combat boots but there also laid a number of other prints in a wide swath going the same direction. It wasn’t long until they came upon the first body, a standard woodland camo distinguished by the Algerian flag imprinted upon the shoulder. The solider was laying face down in a pool of blood, a hole straight through their neck as Adrian knelt down to pick up the radio. He flicked it on but only received static.

“Well the area seems clear…but uh…I assume this ain’t great for foreign relations.” Adrian tossed the radio towards McCree who caught it swiftly out of the air.

“You’d be right, the faster we get our target the better.”

Standing back up, the two made their way further east, with each step they passed a growing number of bodies all in higher concentration. Meaning they were getting close to the where the ODST made their stand, their IFF signals should mark each other on their respective radar hopefully preventing friendly fire. Though if the other ODST was jumpy, dazed, saw McCree first or was just out of fucking range…well there was no guarantee for anything to go according to plan. They had passed at least a dozen guys when a bullet ricocheted off the tree near McCree, sending splinters flying as the two hit the ground. A heavy concentration of bullets reigned above them as the FMJ rounds obliterated the flora of the forest.

“And you were worried about my welcoming.” Jesse deadpanned.

“I’m almost tempted to just let him kill you.” Adrian bit back as he waited for the gunfire to cease. Once there was an opening, he wasted no time in calling out, “Where do we drop?”

He held his breath as he waited for one of two responses, either another salvo of gunfire or – “Feet first into hell!” The shooter called back much to Adrian’s relief. He waited on the ground just a split second longer until the yellow dot appeared on his radar, he nodded to Jesse and pushed himself off the ground. Looking through the tree line he could faintly make out the unmistakable obsidian black armor as it stood in a similar hesitance. As Adrian drew closer a familiar design began to make itself known to him, mostly faded much like his own armor embellishments, a trio of dulled blood red scratches like a werewolf’s claw dragged across adorned the other ODST’s helmet. The more he looked the more he was certain he knew who it was.

“Liam? You almost made me worry about you.” Adrian spoke in near disbelief.

“Adrian, no shit. I land in god knows where with these cunts all over me like their girl at prom, and the first friendly face I see is you? What a shit fuckin’ day.” The Aussie known as Liam “Barbie” White spoke as he stuck out his hand which Adrian grabbed as the two had a quick embrace. Barbie winced as the interaction as he held onto his abdomen. “One of the bastards got me by surprise and scored a lucky shot; patched it up with some biofoam but we both know its good for fuck all. Wouldn’t happen to have a medic with ya?” He asked before realizing that Adrian wasn’t alone, he tiled his head in confusion as the cowboy standing behind Adrian.

“Look it’s a long damn story, he’s on our side and a hell of shot.”

Barbie stared a second longer before nodding, “So we dealing with some innies or what?”

Adrian looked towards the pile of bodies behind him, “Something like that…but listen how the hell did you get here? Did you get caught up in the cruiser’s slipspace rupture?”

Liam nodded, “Aye, tried to redirect but didn’t have the time. Rest of the squad was far enough out to avoid it, but I got pulled in same as you. Absolutely fucking wild few seconds though in the rupture amiright? Had no damn idea where I was until I popped out here.”

It took Adriana few seconds to remember that slipspace ruptures fucked with both space and time, just because he’d been here for months didn’t mean that Barbie was traveling through space for the same amount of time. In the time Adrian had been traveling the world putting down threats, Barbie had only counted the difference as last than a minute in time. He struggled to wrap his head around it but pushed it to the side for now, there’d be plenty of time for that shit later.

“McCree radio in, we’re ready for evac.” Jesse nodded before pulling out one of his signature cigars and walking to lean against a large tree. Adrian turned backed to Barbie, “Let me check that wound, you’ve always been ass at patching yourself up.”

“What are you, my mother?” He bit back but still complied, bringing himself to sit on the ground with a grunt before removing his helmet in relief. Revealing a man a few years older than Adrian with short and frizzy dirty blonde hair, an ugly scar starting on his left cheek and running between the ear on the same side. “So what the hell is goin’ on mate? It doesn’t take a genius to know something’s off about this place, ‘specially with that get up am I right.”

“Again long story, I’ll fill you in on everything once we get out of here.” Adrian replied as he brought out a pair of tweezers and small surgical stapler. “Take a swig, this is gonna hurt like a bitch.”

“Christ how is it that everyone knows.” Barbie replied as he pulled a small hidden flask from the inside of his chest plate armor, “Think gunny knows?” Adrian just shot him a look, “Right dumb question.”

Adrian worked quickly to pull out the shrapnel which lucky wasn’t deep, the undersuit having taken most of the momentum from the bullet. When he finally finished his patchwork job on Liam, he pulled the other ODST up to his feet.

“McCree how soon until were out of here?” Adrian asked as he wiped his bloody hands on

“Two minutes top.”

Again Adrian would question the absolute shit hand he’d been dealt in this one period of his life, as if the entire misfortune of a person’s life were instead focused on this one specific moment in time. Even now he wouldn’t beholden himself to the whims of some cosmic force, though in his mind there was a small part of him that said, ‘If there is a cosmic force, they’re real pieces of shit’. The familiar crackling woosh of slipspace portals opening above them drew their attention to the nebulous purple tears that existed in the sky above them before their form was broken as several Covenant drop pods broke through the portals.

The cigar in McCree’s mouth dropped to the ground as he stood in dumbfound sunrise as the covvie pods landed a few dozen meters away from the trio. Barbie swore under his breath as he quickly donned his helmet and drew his assault rifle, muttering a number of the foulest curses beneath his breath. Adrian was in the same boat as McCree, simply stupefied at the absolute fucking incredulity of it all before shouldering his battle rifle and ducking behind a tree.

“Jesse, we’re gonna need another ship to carry all these corpses or some big fucking explosives to obliterate their asses to kingdom come.”

“Never a dull day with you around Adrian. Never a dull damn day.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a shorter chapter to set up the events of an action packed next chapter, but I hope you all enjoy regardless. The boys are back together eh?


	36. Plasma, Snow, and Blood

**Forests of the Tell Atlas Mountain Range, Algeria, Africa**

Adrian rolled behind a thick oak as a line of plasma trailed at his heels, flinching as bolts passed only inches from his body. Peaking around the other side with his battle rifle, he popped a quick burst at a trio of grunts trying to flank them, one went down while the other two squealed in fear and broke any sort of tactics as they ran with their arms flying up in the air. He aimed to finish off the rest as their backs were to him, but the echoing explosion of a plasma grenade nearby caused his aim to falter. Growling he turned back to his teammates, McCree was holding down the center while Barbie and himself were covering the edges. The dense forest made it hard to tell how many enemies they were up against, he counted at least two or three elites which coincidentally meant there would almost guaranteed be no brutes. Thank god for small blessings eh? Reaching behind him, he checked to make sure the plasma pistol he’d brought with him was still attached to it’s holster. Feeling the odd horseshoe shape in his hands, he briefed a sigh of relief, it’d be useful for taking care of the elites and their damn shields.

“Barbie how are you holding up?” Adrian called over the comms as he dropped a jackal sniper scaling the trees,

“Well you know, ‘bout as well as I can do while bleeding out.” Liam replied as he let loose a steady stream of fire from his assault rifle.

“I’m doing just great too.” McCree spoke up.

“Good to know cowboy, but I gotta ask, did you take a wrong turn on your horse or did the costume convention come early this year?” Liam teased the gruff former mercenary.

Adrian chuckled as he tuned out their argument, instead putting his focus towards the seemingly never-ending horde of grunts and jackals. The elites were here somewhere, though he wouldn’t be surprised if they were hanging back until their fodder ran out. For all the talk of honor the elites spouted, they had no qualms sending out wave after wave of grunts or jackals before making an appearance. It was a common tactic of theirs when sieging a city or a UNSC fortification, try to whittle down the opposition before sending in the ‘valuable’ troops. Dropping two grunts in a row before popping the head on a jackal, he tried to focus deeper into the tree line to find any semblance of the elite captains.

A jackal out of his vision unleashed a barrage of needler spikes, most stuck to the trunk of three though a couple reflected off Adrian’s armor with reflected _ping_. The needles in the tree supercombined into a devastating blast, sheering the tree at it’s base causing it to fall the side while sending Adrian tumbling backwards. The tree cracked as it tilted to the side, a chain reaction of crackling limbs echoed through the woodland before landing on the ground with landing with a deafening thud.

“Doesn’t seem like we’re doing much to their advance!” McCree shouted as he repeatedly slammed the handle on his revolver, thinning the ranks of the incoming Covenant forces.

“Well the covvies are firm believers of throwing bodies at the problem till it’s fixed. Our best bet is to take out the hinge-heads in the back, throw disorder into their ranks.”

“Agreed.” Adrian affirmed before pulling out a grenade from his hip and tossing it down the range. The burst of shrapnel clearing out the area ahead of them for a brief moments respite as the trio regrouped behind a slight rise in the land bolstered by thick roots growing into it.

“Have an idea Adrian? Or are ya just going to leave the heavy lifting to me and high-noon here.” Liam asked, ignoring the glare Jesse sent his way.

“Well you know the classics never failed.”

“Which classic did you have in mind, our squad is pretty much a certified classic at this point.”

“Gunny’s favorite.”

“Ahh, the ‘life has no meaning so what’s the point’, that one.”

“Yep.”

McCree spoke up, tired of listening to plans he didn’t understand, “How ‘bout English for the rest of us.”

Adrian grinned behind his helmet, “How many suicide runs have you made?” Jesse didn’t need to a respond; a wide smirk grew across his face as he pulled out a fresh cigar. “Alright then, keep moving, keep the pressure up, take shots at the small ones when you can but our focus are the elites. Take care of them and the rest will scatter for easy cleanup.” The other two nodded as Adrian slapped a fresh magazine into his rifle before hopping over the mound of earth as Liam and Jesse followed suite behind him.

Weaving past the trees they opened fire on any grunt or jackal they passed. On his path Adrian stumbled into a jackal as they both staggered in their movements before the jackal became crushed between a hefty tree and Adrian’s body. Not wasting a moment Adrian shoved the barrel of the BR into the vulture-like-creature and pulled the trigger, a burst shot rupturing the alien’s skull splattering the tree and Adrian alike in a viscous neon-purple mess. Briefly looking to the side he saw McCree effortlessly taking down marksmen jackals in the trees while Liam was crushing a grunt’s head underneath his boot before pulling out his shotgun with one hand and blowing away a squealing grunt.

Looking ahead he could spy a number of tall, muscular figures in ornamental armor standing amongst each other in the middle of what appeared to be a heated argument. As he resumed hauling ass through the forest, the elites became cleared with every second. From what he could see, there were two minors, two majors, and the distinctive white armor of an Ultra leading the pack. He relied to information top the others though McCree would know heads or tales from it, only that the extravagantly armored officer in the front was not to be taken lightly.

To his left, Liam tossed a frag grenade into the grouping of elites, they warbled a scream in their foreign tongue before rolling out of the way of the main impact. Through his scope, Adrian could see the shockwave and shrapnel eviscerating the shields of the elites leaving them vulnerable to their weapons. Aiming down the scope of his BR, Adrian fired upon a minor furthest to the right. Three quick bursts hit dead center of the elite; his armor-piercing round shredded the chest cavity of the Sangheili as it stumbled backwards numbly before collapsing to the ground. Breaking through a thick bush Adrian rolled into a widened space of the forest, cleared out by the numerous landing pods that obliterated any vegetation in the immediate area. Firing upon an elite major, he immediately took cover behind a large stone as the elites growled in frustration at the suicidal tactics of the humans. Sparing a glance to his comrades, he saw Liam blindly charging into the major on the left side before drawing his knife and bringing it’s serrated edge through the Sangheili’s neck in a fountain of blood. McCree shot out the kneecaps of an elite in crimson armor before finishing off the alien with quick surge of bullets to it’s head.

A familiar hiss of a plasma-grenade filled his ears as glowing blue ball sailed over his protection and landed on the ground behind him. Jumping out from the cover as the explosion propelled him outwards, he landed with a grunt on the rocky ground before feeling himself picked up and tossed backwards into a tree by one of the last two elites. Quickly pushing himself up he found himself staring up into the covered face of the Ultra, snarling at his smaller form.

The Ultra flicked its wrist producing the shimmering form of an energy dagger from above it’s wrist. It swung it’s arm faster than Adrian could comprehend, leaving him only a few seconds to raise his hand in defense to halt the blade. The dagger tore through his palm, its tip sticking a few inches out of his hand as he screamed in agony stumbling backwards, the only thing halting it from completely ripping through was Adrian’s own firm grip pushing back. His hand wrapped around the curled talon fist, fighting with all his might to keep the blade from stabbing him. Squeezing his grasp even tighter as he grit his teeth so hard he thought his molars would crack. Adrian yanked the Sangheili’s arm downwards bringing its head down to his own level as it let out an astonished huff before he brought his head back and slammed it forwards into the elite’s face.

It stumbled backwards with a roar as the dagger ripped back out of Adrian’s hand, he swore in pain while reaching behind him for the plasma pistol. As soon as he had it in his hands, he held down the trigger while brining it to bare in front of him, aimed directly at the infuriated Sangheili Ultra. As soon as she could feel the raw power literally shaking in his hands, he let the bolt of plasma loose. It sailed through the air, crackling with every second before landing dead-center of the elite and frying it’s shields.

“BARBIE NOW!” Adrian’s hoarse voice yelled out.

“Right!” Liam turned from finishing off the last major and pointed his shotgun directly at the Ultra in a fraction of a second. He fired as soon as it’s head entered his sights, a hail of buckshot burst forth from the muzzle before easily ignoring the elite’s helmet and landing with a sickening squelch in it’s brain. It stood in the middle of the trio for a few seconds, a faint look of loss passing it’s feature before it simply…fell. Crumpled to the ground like a sack of garbage.

Looking around he didn’t see any grunts or jackals squealing in terror, those species were cowards who often had no trouble throwing their hands up in defeat at the first sign of trouble, but they also rarely deserted. Knowing that being found guilty of desertion was a life far worse than meeting their end at a human’s gun.

“McCree scan the forest for any stragglers, have Shattered Glass do recon outside of our immediate area. Once we know we’re clear we can start clean-up and evac of this whole fucking mess.”

Jesse nodded and left to clear the site leaving only Adrian and Liam standing in a clearing of covvie drop-pods and dead hinge-heads. A gurgling noise brought the two’s attention to Liam’s target before finishing up the Ultra, a major with it’s left leg blown off at the knee and it’s chest filled with shotgun pellets.

“Let it suffer, fuck knows we have.” Barbie muttered before looking towards the gaping wound in Adrian’s hand. “You good?”

“I’ll live, what about you?”

He sat down with a groan, “Just fuckin’ peachy.” Adrian sat down next to him as the Swordfish flew overhead performing recon. “So about those answers you said you had for me.”

Adrian sighed as he removed his helmet and looked towards Liam, “Buckle in cause it’s one hell of a story. First off, about where we are…

………

………

………

“Hold on mate, you’re _still_ trying to get back to…our world…fucking hell that feels weird to say.” Liam questioned in disbelief, taking the lit cigarette from Adriana and looking towards McCree who simply nodded in agreement.

“You’re telling me, but pretty much. Progress has been positive though at this point it’s hard to tell what that means.”

Barbie scoffed as he put his head in his hands, shaking them as his brain processed the information, he’d been told over the span of the last couple hours. “A universe without the Covenant…never thought I’d see the day.”

“Well not entirely-”

“Yeah I remember, except the slipspace ruptures which are fucking weird by the way.”

Adrian sat up on his seat aboard the Swordfish as it continued back towards Gibraltar, word already sent ahead about their newest member. Looking throughout the cargo bay two large ODST pods filled the little open space that was there along with the body of Private Mian laid out across a row of open seats, wrapped in a black tarp. As for the covvie corpses and tech, they’d gotten a supply drop of high-grade explosives, incendiary munitions, and a second Orca to recover the more durable pieces. Lest it be said that they didn’t do enough to scrub evidence from the forest, the only hint that there was even a living creature in the area was the faint smell of burnt meat that tinged the air.

As for Liam, Adrian had filled him in as best he could but there was only so much a person could take in one sitting, especially without seeing the rest of it. Much like Adrian, it wasn’t the different world that through Liam off, but the lack of any real Covenant presence. Maybe it was all the time they spent hopping worlds, discovering ancient ruins of a civilization long past, but learning of a different Earth fell relatively low on the shock of the news for them both. Whereas the Covenant were an ever-present threat, you couldn’t go to sleep hoping that the next day would be better, it was a looming death sentence that you learned to live with. To suddenly be told that the last thirty-years of warfare mean nothing here, that the idea of humanity’s extinction is considered outrageously pessimistic at best, it’s a far cry from the universe they were used to inhabiting. Though they hat least had a purpose here, their training still served a purpose, Liam briefly wondered what life would’ve been like if say they landed on a world without war or a place so far removed from their cultural ideals that they would be outsiders at best. Adrian had admittedly never spared much thought to those ideas, though even he agreed that it was a fucking miracle they landed in the circumstances they did.

He was knocked from his thoughts by Barbie’s fist knocking against his shoulder, he looked towards the Aussie with a questioning look, “About the private, I know we’re not his squad, but I figured we should give him the full rites. Kid died in a fuck-all way and it’d just feel wrong if we didn’t give him a proper send-off.”

Adrian agreed, “We’ll do it in the tomorrow, give you some time to settle down and get all this shit sorted out.”

The rest of the flight passed in an idle silence as everyone processed the events of today, with Adrian trying to nap but ultimately failing due to the constant throbbing in his hand. Eventually he felt he plane slow as it began it’s descent near Spain, it’s thrusters changing to a vertical landing position as it began to lower in altitude.

“Look alive buttercup, we’ve brought you back for show n’ tell.” McCree joked as he stood up.

“I’d hate to disappoint everyone; I mean hell I imagine you get bullied enough with that outfit without me failing.” Liam replied, he struggled to get up as his wound was only barely patched up. Adrian offered his shoulder to Barbie who gratefully accepted as the man wrapped his arm around Adrian, swearing as he gained his balance. “Any last minutes bits you wanna make me aware of?”

“Remember Winston is a talking ape.”

“Kind of hard to forget that tidbit.”

“Also keep your dick in your pants.”

Liam scoffed, “What? Me? Please you must have me mistaken with someone else.”

“It wasn’t a secret you had a wide preference, fucking anything and everything that caught your eye.”

“Hey even I have a limit.”

Adrian snorted, “Yeah thankfully, my point is this is a far smaller operation than the UNSC. Just be mindful of what you say and do.”

“Yeah yeah, though I find it funny considering you’re not one for a spotless record.”

The two grinned, Adrian having forgotten how refreshing it was to talk with a member of his squad, people who he’d served with for so long they were practically family. He still needed to get back to his Earth, reunite with the rest of them, and fight the Covenant but for now he’d take the small blessings of having his brother-in-arms here with him. As the Swordfish touched down, the back hatch began to crack open to slowly reveal a whole host of Overwatch agents awaiting their return that brought back memories of his own introduction though under different circumstances. One of the biggest differences he noticed was the sheer change in scale of their operations, when he first arrived it seemed as if the base was perpetually operating with a skeleton crew. While obviously it is still a small-scale operation comparatively, the number of agents and personnel has seen a vast increase.

McCree exited first which was slowly followed by Adrian and Liam hobbling their way down the ramp to the murmurs of many. To most of the people stationed at Gibraltar, Adrian’s story was unknown with the cover story being that he was an ex-soldier from one of Russia’s numerous private military groups, still he was considered the odd one out among Overwatch’s ‘heroic’ appearance. Though for those that knew the truth of Adrian’s situation, they fell into a similar boat as Liam. They believed what they’d been told, what they’d been shown but everything they learned and heard was from a singular secondary source but seeing with one’s own eyes brought on a different range of understanding and emotions. Beside him he heard Liam chuckle ‘holy shit’, a sentiment that was echoed by many of Overwatch’s upper echelon agents. Once they touched solid ground, a number of people came over to the duo their minds brimming with questions.

Reinhardt pushed his way to the front, his massive form causing Liam’s jaw to drop as the astounding size of the German, “Another spaceman! Hah what a day.” Before he could speak anymore, he was cordoned off by Amari who blissfully understood that Reinhardt’s questions would only hinder efforts to sort everything out. Once he was squared way to hauling off the gear from the aircraft, her and Oxton made their way over.

Adrian nodded his thanks, “Much appreciated. Liam this is Fareeha Amari, leader of the security division here, as well as Lena Oxton, whose just an exuberant Brit.” Considering Liam’s current state the best he could offer was a resentful nod of his head, “And this is Liam ‘Barbie’ White, the field medic of my squad though ironically couldn’t patch himself to save his life.”

“Hey it’s a lot fucking harder than you think.”

Introductions were very brief, neither he nor Liam were aiming to stand around answering questions for the curious especially considering their wounds. After excusing themselves they continued to move away from the craft and towards the base, despite the curious onlookers they managed to pass without much resistance and were soon free of any prying ears.

“Quite the welcoming, more than we’re used to back home eh? Now you’ve never mentioned anything about some rockin’ babes here mate, hope you weren’t trying to keep it all to yourself.”

“Jesus what did I just say.” Adrian shook his head.

“That was before the full situation was known, that security chief Amari was something huh.”

“She’d break every bone in your body before you even got a chance to make your move.”

“Are you trying to get me excited? You know I love a woman that can kick my ass.” Liam smirked, “Alright fine so what about that bubbly Brit, Oxton.”

“Not even a chance, taken and swings the other way – and no not half and half like you. I mean she’s fully committed.”

“Damn, tough pickings here. Its like my own personal purgatory, so close yet so far.”

The two continued on with small talk as Adrian gave him a brief rundown of the base, their duties, and what to expect in the future until they got back home. Liam was far more carefree than Adrian though that wasn’t much of a surprise to anyone who spent longer than a minute with the two of them, so Adrian saw him adjusting well to the lax procedures around the base. Outside the clinic doors, they slid open to reveal a relatively quiet day with the blonde Doctor Ziegler absorbed in a pile of work inside her office to the side of the room. Helping Liam into the room Adrian loudly cleared his throat as he set Barbie down onto the nearest seat. Angela continued to look at the papers in her hands before half-heartedly sparing a glance from her work, her eyes shooting up in surprise upon seeing the duo. Rushing out of her office, she hurriedly applied a pair of blue latex globes as she came up to them.

“I completely lost track of time; I heard the news but tried to cram in some paperwork during the down time.” She hastily explained as she helped Adrian in removing the upper torso portion of Liam’s armor to reveal a blood-soaked under suit that was quickly removed as well. “It doesn’t look to serious; the wound is relatively clean meaning healing will be smooth. The biggest danger was blood loss but you haven’t lost too much, you’ll be fine.”

“I appreciate your care Dr...?”

“Angela Ziegler. I would shake your hand but well, I’m a bit preoccupied.” She spoke offhand as she focused on her work.

“A beautiful name for a beautiful woman.” Liam spoke said without missing a beat. “I’m Liam White.”

Adrian flicked the man’s forehead, “Really?” He growled in disbelief, “Apologies Doc, he was dropped on his head as a child, bit of an idiot frankly.”

Liam shot him a look of confusion before looking between the amusement on both Adrian and Angela’s features as a dawning of understanding came over him, “Ah I get it now.”

“No you don’t.”

“If I had known then well, obviously I wouldn’t have gone there.” Liam teased his brother-in-arms, before Adrian could bite back the good doctor spoke up.

“You two seem to get along, I assume you’re an…ODST as well?”

“You’d be right, I’ve known this joyless cunt for going on eight years now. Been through hell and back together, despite what he might say he’s actually quite enjoyable to be around.”

“Wow almost a decade! I’m hoping you can tell me some of the less glorious stories of Adrian, he’s very tight lipped you know.” Angela joked smugly as she shot an amusing look towards Adrian.

“Oh boy have I got stories for you then!”

Adrian swatted Liam with his bad hand to the pain of them of them, with Adrian cursing up a storm as his hand flared in pain. He’d completely forgotten about his wound as it had been at worst a faint numbing feeling but obviously life enjoyed take small potshots where it could. Ziegler’s previously joyful smiled turned to a stern frown as she realized that Adrian hadn’t told her about his own injury.

“Adrian…”

“I swear I just forgot to tell, got caught up in the moment.”

“…”

“Yeah didn’t think that’d mean much.” He gave her his left hand that had a thick wrapping of bandages around it and a dark stain of blood making its way through the layers. She called her one of her assistants to finish up with Liam as she walked Adrian to one of the other open areas in the room. With delicate fingers she began to unwrap the sticky mess of bandages, Adrian lightly winced once or twice as the layers of gauze began sticking together. Resting against an reclining medical table similar to Liam’s, Adrian watched on as Ziegler pulled off the last bit of gauze, her expression a mixture of shock and medical curiosity as she clicked her tongue.

“And how did this happen? I assume some sort of plasma weaponry from your world?”

“Energy dagger, its more or less pure focused plasmic energy into a solid object.”

As Ziegler began her work she turned the topic of conversation to Adrian’s squadmate, “You’ve talked little about your squad before but you mentioned you all have callsigns?”

Adrian nodded, “Given to you by the other members of the squad, I’m Marauder for being Russian and Liam is Barbie for being from somewhere in Australia.”

“So he’s not named after the doll?” Ziegler chuckled to herself, “I didn’t think it was the case but I’m a bit disappointed.”

Adrian didn’t understand, “Doll?”

Now it was Angela’s turn to be confused, “Yeah, like the American toy doll, little plastic toy that you dress up in outfits and play around with.”

“Never heard of it, but I’m not from Earth, Liam on the other hand…” Adrian rolled his head towards Barbie’s direction, “So Liam you’re named after a doll?”

“Ah shut the fuck up!”

Adrian gave a half-hearted shrug to Angela as the two grinned at each other, before Ziegler was called for a meeting in Winston’s lab, it didn’t take much thinking to know it would be about recent events.

“Most of the work is done Adrian, there’s a muscle regeneration lattice overtop a bone-growth mold that will help speed up your recovery. It’s quite a nuisance to be honest, very itchy with no comfortable position to rest your hand so you’ll just have to bear with it. Still, it will take a few hours to properly set so I want you to stay here until I give you the go ahead, same with you Liam.” Barbie shot her a sloppy salute.

When the doors slid closed behind Ziegler as she left, it Adrian and Liam alone in the still room. They laid there in a easy silence with Adrian raising his hand above his face, looking at his brutalized hand, a faint shine of light appearing through his patchwork-like hand.

“This is how you’ve been livin’ the past few months, not a bad way to spend some time.”

“Sometimes I agree, other times it feels like I’m doing jackshit while everyone else is suffering in the war.”

“I think we deserved it though, it’s not like you’ve been slacking off though mate. Haven’t been killing hinge-heads every day but still fighting for Earth. Besides you’ve been fighting for three-months alone, without your brothers and you’ve still been taking names left and right. Even if you were slacking, you ain’t slacking away alone anymore.”

“Suppose your right.”

“Suppose? I know I’m god damn right.” Liam propped himself up on his elbow to face Adrian, wincing at his sutured wound, “Listen you Russian cunt, we’re in this together now. The only question now is getting home.”

“We’re getting home, it’s just a matter of when.”

“That’s the spirit.”

They fell back into a quiet stillness once more, their brief conversation solidified Adrian’s resolve that had started to crack the last few weeks as time drew on and it seemed progress was going nowhere and only worsened by the death of one of his own. Knowing that he’d had one of his brothers watching his back, hell Liam was one of best men he knew, almost a decade of surviving the covvie’s baptism of fire didn’t go to waste. If there was one person he’d trusted to have his back against any odd it would Liam, the oldest friend he’d had an without a doubt his best. Adrian rested his hands on his torso as he closed his eyes for a quick nap.

“About that cowboy…”

“Liam will you shut the fuck up.”


	37. You Were There

**Cafeteria aboard the UNSC _Upon a Pale Horse_ , Ursula System**

**2548**

_Private James Gunderson walked into the mess hall, hundreds upon hundreds of soldiers filled it’s halls with rambunctious laughter and energetic chatter filling every corner of the room. His tray filled with food he slowly moved through the bustling space trying to find where his squadmates had taken a seat or at the least a table filled with some veterans who would tell him some wicked war stories! Honestly that was one of the main reasons he joined was to make a name for himself, he had a crush on the popular girl back home and he hoped a nice round of service would raise her opinion of himself. Looking hopelessly across masses of tables, he spied what appeared to be a relatively open spot with only a few guys around it towards the far wall against the windows._

_It seemed odd for there to be some spare room considering how busy everything else was, maybe they were outcasts sort of like himself! Or they might also be grizzled veterans who everyone else is afraid to approach, but he had the balls to go up and introduce himself. Once they saw that he wasn’t put off by their gruff exterior they’d welcome him like one of their own. Settling on a plan of action, he walked across the room putting on an air of confident determination, making sure he only exuded a calm exterior. As he drew closer, he realized that they weren’t wearing the standard UNSC armor or anything familiar to him, they were all decked out in obsidian black gear with each marine having their own specialized design emblazoned on their armor. He felt a brief tinge of uncertainty flare in the back of his mind, but he quickly quashed that feeling as he quickened his step towards them. Approaching near he noticed they were all playing a round of cards as well as what seemed to be going through a whole pack of cigarettes, the immediate space around them was suffocatingly thick with the smog of smoke. Slowing his step by the table, they all looked up at him with clear gazes of disinterest, figuring this was just part of their style he didn’t left himself get fazed until they spoke._

_“What the fuck do you want kid?” The largest of the three spoke, a golden skull with a knife through its eye laid upon his shoulder._

_“Private James Gunderson sirs! Figured I’d like to dine with you if-”_

_“You seen combat yet?” The same one spoke._

_“Well uhmm, no I just got here from boot.”_

_“Damn you’re greener than my shit.” Another spoke, this one had three blood red scratches dragged across the top of his helmet on the table. His two friends looked at him before shaking their heads, one of them mumbling something about needing a doctor._

_“Grow some fucking pubes on your balls first, probably smoother than Gunny’s head.” The first one spoke again, he said as he blew a heavy cloud of smoke into James’ face, the private coughed as he waved the smoke away. “Coughing like a damn bitch, won’t last a day if you can’t get used to the fumes on the front lines.”_

_“Piss off kid, no used wasting our time on a dead man. You know the rate of newbies surviving their first battle? Pretty fuckin’ shite, its part instinct, part skill, all luck…and your luck right now is god awful.”_

_James stood there dumb founded, he hadn’t expected for his confidence to be destroyed in just a few quick seconds, he tried to stammer out a response, but it was cut off by the first solider speaking again, “Don’t waste your time getting your thoughts together, just fuck off kid.” James continued to stand there in disbelief, the trio went back to their card game for a short bit before looking up to see he was still standing there, “You need an ass kicking boy? Cause you’re starting to piss me off now.” Before the large soldier could stand up, a couple of Gunderson’s nervous squadmates came to sweep the stammering James away, they apologized profusely as they made their way to their table._

_One to his side hissed, “What the fuck do you think you’re doing, trying to get the shit kicked out of you?”_

_James mouthed a couple times before words came out, “Wh-wh-who were those guys?”_

_A different squadmate scoffed, “God damn ODST’s you idiot, best of the best marines that went through hell fire only to come out stronger on the other side. Like half of the ODST accepts die in their training regimen.”_

_“Heard they’re not even fully human, like a half breed with spartan tech mixed in.”_

_“Probably, the main thing is Gunderson, unless they talk to you, don’t fucking get involved. They’re a breed of their own.”_

_Back at the table once the kid had left, Wolfe broke out with laughter howling like his namesake as Barbie wiped a tear from his eye as he begun to wheeze which in turn caused Adrian’s previously subdued enjoyment rise to a bubbling enjoyment at seeing Barbie keel over like a fish out of water._

_Adrian spoke up first, “Christ you guys didn’t have to shit on him like that, poor bastard probably pissed himself as soon as Wolfe started talking.”_

_“I consider it my public duty; little green fucks all have an ego the size of the sun as soon as they leave boot. Thinkin’ they’re hot shit so I have to put them back in their place.” Wolfe spoke back as he picked up his hand of cards that fell onto the table as they begun to resume their game._

_“Better the kid is scared but smart rather than confident and dumb.” Barbie mentioned as he checked, knocking the table once to signal he wouldn’t raise. “Though speaking of, didn’t hear you speak at all Marauder.”_

_“Got stuck on your dumb ass comment, green as your shit? Really? Fuck man that was bad.”_

_Wolfe laughed his deep booming chuckle again, “Talk to your doctor man.”_

_“It wasn’t real-”_

_“Gambling aboard a UNSC installation is a serious infraction you know.” A rugged voice spoke, they turned to see their gunnery sergeant standing at the end of the table._

_“But gunny, we already had a hand ready for you.” Adrian offered._

_“Well when you say that, it’d be a shame to waste that hand then.” He smirked as he sat down next to Adrian, taking the extra cards from his hand before quickly frowning as he looked at his cards._

_“You’ve got an awful poker face gunny.” Barbie remarked Gunny stared up from his cards to his squad seated at the table, Wolfe and Marauder had stone cold poker faces while Barbie was smiling like a kid on Christmas._

_“I’m starting to remember how serious an infraction this could be if reported to the right sources.”_

_The smile fell from Barbie’s face, “That’d be uhh…a damn shame sir. In fact, I think Marauder accidently gave you my cards, here let’s trade so you have the right hand.”_

_The two trader their hands, “Ah that’s more like it.”_

_Wolfe and Adrian chuckled to themselves are Barbie promptly folded upon seeing his cards, though in the back of his mind the poor private stayed with him, maybe because they were all like that at one point, but Wolfe and Barbie had a point. Better scared and smart, but also there ain’t much you can do if luck isn’t on your side, next time he got the chance he’d see how the kid was fairing. Adrian would forget to check with their next mission spanning four months running search and destroy operations against Covenant forces on Abalus, he would never know that Private James Gunderson died four days later on his first deployment with his pelican being shot out of the sky by covvie anti-air. He may have been scared shitless, but luck simply wasn’t on his side._

* * *

**Watchpoint Gibraltar, Iberian Peninsula, Europe**

“Focus buddy, big night you know only need to aim for the middle and-”

Liam threw the dart, it went wide landing on the outer rim of the dart board, netting Adrian and Liam’s a total of zero points. Adrian groaned as Reinhardt cheered off to the side with Shimada softly chuckling.

“Alright no loss, everyone has rough nights, we’ll win next time.”

Liam overly exaggerated his sorrow, “Ah the tragedy, well at least we weren’t betting.”

The opposing team comprised of the Genji and the mountainous German shared a look before Reinhardt spoke up, “Why not gamble? Like you said you’ll win next time, no? It is good for the soul to engage in friendly rivalry.”

“Oh well I don’t know about that.” Adrian said with a reluctant tone.

Shimada spoke, “What if loser buys a round of drinks?”

Liam perked up, “Ah well now we’re speakin’ my language, I could go for that what do you say Adrian, friendly wager?”

“Well alright but let make it interesting. All or Nothing, full drinks for the whole bar eh?” Adrian spread his arms out to the rest of the room.

Vivid conversation filled the bar on base as people of every background filled the room, all brought together by their common desire for the betterment of mankind through Overwatch. Within the decorated walls you can find entertainment of damn near any kind, drinks, talk, games, and maybe even a bit of gambling if you knew where to look – or in Adrian’s case – served in a military where gambling flowed more than water.

“Deal.” Reinhardt quickly agreed as Shimada seemed to have second thoughts, “First to hit the bullseye?”

“First to hit the bullseye.” Adrian slapped Liam on the chest with the back of his hand as he handed his comrade a trio of darts. Barbie picked a dart with his left hand and held it up before Adrian interrupted, “You gonna play like that all night Liam?”

The grin on Reinhardt’s face faltered, “What?”

“Well it just that Liam’s been going lefty all night, but he’s right handed.” The façade of a reluctant boy scout that Adrian had been honing all night evaporated back into his usual attitude as Liam adopted a cocky smirk.

“Damn you’re right Adrian, what would I do without my main man Adrian Kasporov.” Barbie switched the dart to his steady right hand where he tossed it with pin-point accuracy nailing the center of the bullseye with practiced ease.

“Bop, OOOHHH.” Adrian and Liam said in perfect unison as the dart made the satisfying think of hitting the heart of the wood board

Reinhardt slammed his fist on the table, “ _Scheisse!_ Played like a new-born pup!”

“I admit I let our success cloud my judgment, your behavior was far too courteous and reserved.” Shimada chuckled.

“Works every fucking time.” Liam boasted as he high-fived Adrian, “Now big man, how about those drinks.”

The German grumbled as he walked away with Liam and Shimada in tow, Adrian stayed behind to instead score a quiet table. He’d already ordered a drink when they entered and wasn’t in any rush to finish his liquor. Finding an empty spot in the far corner of the bar, he plopped a seat and kicked back in his chair, resting his boots upon the wooden table. Leaning back, he balanced himself on the chair’s back legs as he nursed a rum on the rocks, zoning out before Liam slammed a heavy metal pint of beer on the table. Frothy foam poured over the lip and onto the table as Liam hurriedly slurped the drink down to a reasonable level.

“Hot damn mate, unless we were on leave this wouldn’t pass, not that I’m complaining mind you.” Barbie smirked as he took a swig of his drink before looking around at the placement of their table, “If I didn’t know better, I’d almost say you’re trying to keep me away from everyone else, think we scarred everyone off after our show of flashy wit?”

“Well not everyone here is so taken with my charms, a curse to be so charismatic isn’t it?” Adrian joked back.

“Hah, I was beginning to worry you lost your sense of humor. Tell me though, what it’s been like? For me it’s like we were just talking yesterday but for you…”

Adrian shot him a confused glance as he drank, “I already told you everything.”

“Not that shite, I mean with you. I already noticed some new scar on your mug, not to worry though, it’ll take a lot more to make your face any uglier than it already is.”

“Ah right,” He unconsciously ran his fingers over the scars, “Not much to tell honestly, well not here anyway. Took a direct hit to the visor, the bullet itself righted off but the visor splintered inwards.”

“Nasty work that, though aside from the few Talon agents you mentioned I assume most others are just using some early ballistic weapons?”

“Yep, against our armor they’re practically worthless though the bodysuits are actually worse as you’ve already experienced.”

Liam nodded in understanding, ODST bodysuits were already armored to an extent, though it worked against them with this world’s ballistic weapons. A standard UNSC round is armor piercing or FMJ as well as far larger than the typical rounds used by the military forces here. So when the insurrectionists would get ahold of some UNSC weapons, sure they packed a punch but if it hit the bodysuit it’d also guarantee a clean wound. Here, the commonplace rounds were smaller, usually not modified in any way, meaning that as soon as they hit their armored under suit, velocity would drop off instantly and shatter. No clean wound plus shrapnel made it a righteous pain in the ass.

“On a different note I’ve been meaning to ask, you and that Doctor Ziegler huh?” Barbie grinned.

“Look she’s … I don’t know it’s complicated.”

“Yeah alright I’ll drop it for now, aside from that though, don’t tell me you’ve gone this long without even scoring.”

“Well, that’s also complicated.”

“Jesus did you fuck married woman? An officer?” Liam stared Adrian down, “I know that look mate, how bad could it be.”

“Now I’ve got no proof of this _but_ it seems she may be a spy for Talon. Likely is. Probably almost definitely is.”

Liam stared at him slack jawed, before howling with laughter as he slammed the today with his hand, “Bloody Christ, that’s like the first thing they told us when dealing with the innies. Well don’t worry, ole papa White is here to fix all your problems.”

“Stuff it old man.”

“Well if you see her, send her my way and I’ll _personally_ handle it.” They shared a laugh, reveling in the break from their usual lives

“You really don’t know when to quit do you?”

Any further discussion was interrupted as a deep, uncertain voice spoke up against the mass of people and a far from usual foot pattern could be heard reverberating with every step against the ground. “Ah Mr. Kasporov and Mr. White, glad I could find you here! If you don’t mind I’d like to have a word with the both of you in a more quiet space?” Winston questioned as he gorilla-walked his way over to them, nodding his head to the exit.

Adrian rolled his eyes in annoyance before Liam elbowed him lightly, “Get the stick of your ass Adrian, never thought I’d be the one saying this, but this is our job while we’re here mate.”

Grumbling understanding, Adrian brought his feet off the table as he downed the rest of rum in one quick gulp while Liam quickly tried to chug as much of his beer as he could. Letting out a massive belch, he bumped his chest a couple times before motioning with his hands to lead on. Adrian chuckled to himself as the two followed behind Winston, making their way through the crowed room. When the finally exited Winston moved them over to an empty part of the hallway, Liam and Adrian shared a curious glance before waiting for the ape to explain.

“I’m sure you’re expecting something very top secret but the truth is far more mundane than that.” Winston elaborated, “Jesse has been deployed on a rapid assignment, something about his former… associates shall we call them, and the trouble they’ve been causing in the American Southwest. Which as Adrian knows puts a hamper into a future plan of ours, given our colorful cast of allies it normally would’ve been hard to find a suitable replacement.”

“And so you’re asking me to fill the role?” Liam questioned, crossing his arms. “Well hell, not like I got much of a choice, even if I was to say no. Well I’ve been a bit buggered the past couple days trying to wrap my head around everything, so some action will help to clear up my mind.”

Winston broke into a smile, “Great! Adrian can fill you in on the details, and to be honest having two men of your caliber working this mission relieves me. Especially with your shared experiences together.” With that he left, making his way down the hallway to a bemused Adrian as Liam turned to him for the details.

Adrian wrapped his arm around Liam’s shoulder, “So remember when you said you’d never wear a suit in your life…”

………

………

………

“Christ I feel like a clown.” Adrian muttered in his room.

“I assure you that you are not.” The artificial voice of Athena spoke.

“How do people wear these things?” He questioned as he pulled on the suit jacket, it was a day before their mission but apparently their outfits needed to be exact, otherwise they’d look out of place at such a high class gathering. It didn’t make any sense to Adrian, fancy clothes were fancy clothes, what else was there to it? Apparently a lot more as Athena kept critiquing him until he had settled upon the “perfect” look.

“I couldn’t tell you.”

“Ah right. Though I’ve been meaning to ask, do you envision yourself with any sort of physical form?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well like back in my world, smart A.I like yourself tend to also have human form that they see themselves as, or rather based on their personality. Do you have something like that.”

She didn’t respond for a few seconds, “I’ve never given it any processing power before, though now in the future I will…think on it.”

“Get back to me, curious to see what the answer is.”

“As you wish.”

Silence once more in the room as Adrian adjusted his clothes, adjusting his hastily thrown tie and button up his jacket. Though the silence didn’t last for long, “Adrian that’s incorrect.”

“Fucking…what is it now?”

“One too many buttons, also your tie is crooked with an uneven knot that looks sloppy.”

“Well not like I ever had a need to learn.”

“Never had to ask an alien to prom?” Adrian snorted at her joke, before trying to rectify her problems, “I apologize but you’re simply making it worse.”

“Christ does Liam have you breathing down his neck too?”

“Liam is occupied.”

Stopping his work, Adrian stood their stupefied, “With what?!”

“It is private.”

“That god damn son of a whore, I told him! I specifically told him and he can’t go half a week before – I swear to god I’ll strangle the bastard the next time I see him.”

“I would advise against that.” Athena coolly responded before a knock on the door drew his attention, “You’re struggles were _frustrating_ , I did not know I had a connection to that adjective, but it seems you showed me. Seeing as I lack a corporeal form, I requested help.”

Adrian huffed as the door slid open to reveal Angela in her own formal clothing, a burgundy dress that almost touched the floor with laced long sleeves and an open back that was finished with a black sash tied into a bow wrapped around her waist. He stared a bit longer that he would admit, practically floored by the contrast of her alabaster skin to the dark colors of her dress.

“Stare any more and I’ll have to charge you.” Angela joked as she made her way into his room, looking around at the relatively spartan furnishings though for Adrian she found it rather fitting. The desk was filled with tech and foreign gadgets while the floor beside rarely used bed was lined with his collection of weapons. His room smelled of gun oil, metal, and sweat, all a distinctly Adrian scent that she couldn’t help but admit she found oddly enticing. Let alone that seeing Adrian cleaned up was quite a sight itself though secretly she preferred his more rugged appearance his slick look would likely draw some attention from many of Overwatch’s personnel.

Adrian did his best to avoid staring too much but it was too damn hard, there are some things you see in life that are just too beautiful to turn from. Shaking his head from his daze, he resisted the urge to shiver as he felt a tingle run down his back as she approached him, her fingers running around his neck to fix his embarrassingly shit attempt at tying a tie.

“Pardon my language Adrian, but this is quite shit.”

Adrian laughed as the tension left his body, “If it makes you swear it must be far worse than I imagined though I can believe it, apparently I haven’t been doing a single thing right or that’s to be believed by Athena’s accounts.”

“It’s a good thing you’ll have me to lead you through the etiquette of formal events.”

“I suppose, but you know what’s funny? I’m not nervous, but the confidence I usually have just sort of…evaporated as soon as I put on this outfit.”

“Well I imagine it’s hard to be outside your comfort zone. Even a rugged veteran such as yourself will feel out of place at a fancy gala, but that’s good right? To be reminded of your vulnerability every now and then.”

Adrian didn’t say anything for a short while before muttering, “Better scared than dead.”

She looked up from her work, “Did you say something Adrian?”

“Huh? No its nothing…no…just…something I thought I remembered.” He eyed himself in the mirror, taking in his new appearance feeling like he was looking in on somebody else’s life, “Nothing at all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well apologies for the later than usual upload, nothing much happened other than some writers block on the next chapter. Wrote out a quick page or two before just hitting a dead end, so instead of drowning myself in uncertainty about that, I wrote an entirely different chapter that would be this one with even this chapter going through a number of different ideas before settling and feeling pretty confident with this. Anyway enough of my rambling, hope you all enjoy!


	38. At Last...

**Middle of Nowhere, Udmurt Republic, Russia**

Adrian shifted in the limousine he found himself in, the oligarch Boris Gregori was frankly paranoid about outside forces meddling in his affairs though no because he thought he had anything to fear in terms of his illegal activities. No, rather Gregori worried that agents from various intelligence agencies weren’t regal enough to attend such a gala, essentially, he worried his enemies were too poor and would bring down the high-class atmosphere of his parties. To combat this, each guest was asked to arrive a randomized distant location to then be picked up by a steady stream of his own loyal men. Hence his current situation, a mixed feeling of disgust and uncertainty as he sat in an unfamiliar vehicle in a stiff suit headed to a place armed with only his SOCOM and his own fists.

“Christ I feel like a clown.” He muttered to himself as he looked towards the rest of his squad, Fareeha and Liam dressed in all black suits very similar to his own sat in their own states of discomfort. Angela is her silk dress layered with thick wool coat seemed to be the only one not feeling out of place, though he supposed that it wasn’t uncommon to dress up in her line of work, but for the rest of them…

“You look like one too.” Liam ribbed.

Adrian kicked him in the shin as his response, Fareeha sighed, “Like dealing with a couple of _'atfal._ ”

“I hope that was an insult.” Barbie joked.

“You’ll enjoy it more when she breaks your nose you masochist.” Adrian retorted. Any further arguing was silenced as the driver announced that they were nearing the house, though when they came into view calling the building a house did it a disservice. The thing was massive, more like a palace than a home, though Adrian supposed that being a powerful oligarch with money up the ass didn’t leave much that couldn’t be bought.

Angela’s voice broke him from his musing, “Now remember what we discussed, we’re not here to cause a scene.” Despite Adrian and Liam’s previous energetics, they were now dead serious, most ODSTs had a hint of crazy in them, hell there’s not many else who willingly put their face in a pod freefalling from orbit, but on mission you’d be hard pressed to find a solider more dedicated to completing the mission than an ODST. As for the discussion, Adrian remembered it well, on the books he was not only her head bodyguard but also her interpreter if the need arose. That cover gave him access to go just about wherever she went without raising too many questions and if Gregori’s fondness of the doctor was to be believed, then it wouldn’t be hard to convince the double-crossing bastard to go for a private conversation. Angela was right, they had to exfiltrate the oligarchic without being noticed, at the least the needed to try and avoid unnecessary conflict. Though knowing how well plans usually went…Adrian patted the area of his jacket with half a dozen magazines sewed in…he was prepared for the worst.

Still he felt out of his element and despite Barbie’s joking nature he could tell his brother-in-arms felt the same way, other than his constant musings about the general lack of Covenant, this sort of dress-up espionage was beyond his range of comfort. Hell at least when they got back gunny couldn’t give em’ shit about going outside their comfort zones anymore. Sighing one last time will still fidgeting with he cuffs on his jacket that felt just a touch too tight, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning his head, he spied Angela giving him a reassuring smile, he gave a faint grin in return before the limousine stopped entirely. Taking a deep breath he looked towards Liam who nodded, his face impressively impassive. Adrian opened the car door, stepping out onto cobbled road, scanning his immediate surroundings he had to force himself to ignore the towering stone palace in front of him, instead acting upon his new duties as Liam and Fareeha stepped out behind him taking defensive position as the guest of honor gracefully made her way from the vehicle. Along the cobblestone pathway outside the ‘house’, there was a line of limousines all identical to their own along with a number of other attendees chatting in the crisp open air. Given that this event publicly proposed as a gathering of the scientific minds, to Adrian it wasn’t hard to tell who was in fact an egghead and who was here for their paycheck to make the eggheads look good. Honestly it kind of baffled him, why waste money paying for a high-end escort when everyone knows that it’s just some dolled up call girl, the same as everyone else. Fuck this is why he could never make it as one of these high-society types, he just didn’t get it.

Still that’s not why he was here; closing the door behind Ziegler as she moveout from the vehicle, he took his spot right beside her as they made their way down the luxurious crimson carpet rolled out along the steps as Amari and Barbie walked directly behind them. Above them the night sky was dotted with the stars of the universe, something that Adrian hadn’t seen in what felt like ages. The light pollution in Gibraltar usually made it impossible to see the wonders of the night, in a way to see them was comforting, it reminded him of travelling aboard any number of cruisers and being able to look out the window to see across the vast void of space littered with the life of stars across a never-ending expanse.

Nearing the entrance, they were stopped by an armed guard in a white tuxedo, “Name?”

“Doctor Angela Ziegler.”

“Ah of course, apologies. Mister Gregori would enjoy making your acquaintance tonight.”

She flashed him one of her trademark smiles, “Of course.” Noting that he turned his focus to her escort she clarified, “My guard detail, one never can be too safe can they?”

“No ma’am, however I’m going to ask they surrender any weapons on their persons at this time.”

“Oh well, they-”

“I’m sorry ma’am, but I can’t allow foreign armaments on the premise.” The guard looked towards Adrian expectantly, “You’ll get them back when you leave.”

“Can’t very well do my job without my tools can I?” Adrian had no intention of giving up his SOCOM, even if it wasn’t prepared for a shitshow bodies would drop before he relinquished it to someone else.

“Guess you’ll have to make do with your wits.” The guard made a move to grab the pistol from Adrian’s holster.

“Touch me and I’ll make sure you spend the rest of your life in misery.” The guard halted, narrowing his eyes at Adrian as he moved to shoulder his own assault rifle.

Angela was about to speak up in a mix of fretting and anger that the mission could already be in jeopardy before a deep Russian voice spoke up from within the entrance.

“ _Yest' problema, Dmitriy?”_ An older man stepped into view, they all immediately recognized him as the target and subsequent host of this event, Boris Gregori. Up close he wasn’t as tall as Adrian but either he’d been packing some pounds since the last picture or that photographer really knew to avoid his size, because the first thought that ran through Adrian’s mind was that he might be a bit harder to nab than he thought.

“ _Ser, etot merzavets ne sdast oruzhiye._ ” The guard spoke quickly, flashing his eyes towards Adrian who snorted.

“I’m not the dipshit here.”

Their eyes shot to Adrian in surprise before Boris’ landed upon Angela, his previous mask of annoyance turning to one of immense joy. It seems that the oligarchs favor of Ziegler was true, though all parties involved knew it was simply the man trying to secure her research for himself. It was especially tainted with Gregori’s intentions to weaponize and sell her work, an act that Angela found personally revolting considering her effort to save lives and not harm them.

Boris spoke once more, “Doctor Ziegler! I must admit I have a great deal of respect for you, you’re work is second to none. I had heard that you sought to come but to meet in person is a joy, I’m most interested to hear your presentation.”

“ _Dankeschön_.”

Boris waved away the guard as he opened his arms wide, beckoning her into his palace and by proxy the rest of them, “For your guards I think I can make an exception for you as long as you keep your _hund_ on his leash.”

Angela shot Adrian a subtle glare, shutting him down from snapping back as the old bastard continued to ramble. Shifting his focus from the two in front of him, he gazed at the massive room that opened up before them, an elegantly decorated space with an ornamental podium standing at the far end with a blank screen behind it. The room itself was a simple square filled to the prim with scientists, scholars, and academics from around the globe with raised second floor encompassing it. Turning his attention back to the target, he caught only the tail end of his conversation as Boris wished Angela a good evening as he had other business to attend. Once he was far enough away Ziegler turned to face the trio, in particular shooting Adrian with an exasperated look.

“Adrian please, I thought you were going to break that man’s arms.”

“Thought? He would have if there hadn’t been some divine intervention on the part of our target.” Liam snorted to himself as he made note of the room as well.

“We’ll have to thank him later.” Amari commented sarcastically.

“Yeah I’m an idiot I get it, for now lets get back on track. Canvas the place, find a good area that the Doc can lure Boris too for a conversation or drinks or whatever but also make sure it’s got quick access to outside so we can get extracted by the Russians. We have until the end of Ziegler’s speech to figure out a plan because word has it that Boris likes to personally handle all his investments after the big show of new tech. That’s the only time we can guarantee that he’ll be mingling and available to talk with the Doc.”

Amari and Liam affirmed their mission before splitting up to get a layout of the massive house, leaving Adrian and Angela behind in the middle of the bustling crowd.

“Apologies Doc, hold habits die hard I suppose.”

She sighed as she turned to smile, “Well what’s done is done, besides now it won’t be as suspicious at least for you to be following me everywhere if Boris believes its to keep you ‘on a leash’ so to speak.

“Heh, suppose so.” He glanced around uncertainty, the gravity of his uncertainty settling in once more as he stood awkwardly, he was trained to kill and kill well, not to play dress up around a bunch for rich pricks.

“It’s unusual to see you anxious, normally you’re so confident.”

“Must’ve slept through the part of my training on high society.”

Adrian tugged at his collar for some space only for his hand to be swatted away as Ziegler hissed for him to knock it off, “The tough marine can’t handle a suit?” She jested as she fixed the tie he’d just messed up.

“This one can’t know, I’m actually very sensitive you know.”

She smirked, “You can survive countless life-threatening battle wounds, live in the harshest environments for months on end, but deep down is sensitive to a bit of class. The shocking truth is revealed.”

“Oh doctor you wound me.”

“Alright I say we clear off to get a drink, sound good?”

“Fuck I thought you’d never ask.” Before correcting himself as she gave him a friendly glance, “I mean… uh…frick?”

She laughed at his confused look, “Just try to keep your language at bay until we’re back at the base or at least away from someone who might know me.”

Adrian took the lead as most people took one look at him before quickly moving out of the way, it was easier than struggling through the crowd of people. A couple whispers caught his trained ears the two made their way through, many seemed to recognize the good Doctor while others questioned why she was having special treatment, which led him to snort to himself. He thought to himself that all anyone needed was a veteran of a half-century long war turned bodyguard and they too could receive their very own special treatment.

When they reached the bar, it seemed a couple dozen drinks were already set out in advance, handing one of the glasses to Angela he sniffed it before downing it in one gulp. Grimacing at the taste, some kind of champagne probably but to him it just tasted like nail polish. Wiping his lips with a disgusted expression, he put the glass back down as Ziegler covered her laugh.

“Not to your liking?”

“I was expecting something a bit…more…not awful.”

Adrian was resting his elbows on the bar counter as he looked around for a different drink before his attention was drawn to someone calling out the Doc’s name, his eyes shot over to Ziegler as she sipped her drink, eyes just as surprised as his own as a man around her age made his way over. He had circle rimmed glasses with light brown hair swept to the side, a faint German accent laced his words.

“Lorne Jacobs?” She questioned.

“The one and only, I didn’t expect to see you here, it’s been what? Ten years?”

“I didn’t expect to be here either, but you know how things can change.”

“Don’t I know it indeed.” Lorne seemed to have noticed Adrian staring as he subtly tried to puff out his chest, “You got a problem buddy?”

Adrian pushed himself off standing to his full height, only a couple inches taller than Lorne Jacobs.

“Ah Lorne please, this is my bodyguard for the event, as well as translator for the Russian crowd. Never can be too safe.”

“Makes sense then why someone like him was allowed in.” Jacobs said snidely before shifting the conversation towards the last time they met.

Adrian sighed as he questioned if everyone here was a such an asshole, losing interest in their conversation he turned back towards the bar but kept an eye on the recently appearing prick. Pulling a cigarette from the inside of his coat pocket he patted himself down as he struggled to find his lighter, swearing in Russian as he wondered if he lost before a snapping of a lighter appeared in front of him. Looking up the bartender on duty held out his lighter to Adrian who gratefully accepted.

“ _Spasibo._ ” Adrian thanked the man.

“Anything for a kinsman, especially if he’s just as tired of these stick-up assholes as the rest of us.” The bartender spoke in Russian, equally as frustrated with local flavor of people.

“I imagine you’ve got it worse having to deal with this throughout the whole night.”

He nodded in agreement, “You’ve got that right, at least some of them tip well.”

The two continued their small talk to pass the time with Adrian keeping a watch out of the corner of his eye. The bartender gave Adrian a glass of whiskey from under the counter, a small blessing Adrian considered the highlight of the night to which he made sure to properly convey his thanks.

“Gotta admit though, your accent is a bit strange, you from the Urals?”

“Something like that…” Adrian wracked his mind around where that might have been, but Russian was a big fucking place and the only thing he knew of Earth was where he was supposed to land all those months ago, “Grew up in a small village though so developed the local dialect.” He wasn’t worried about a bartender being suspicious but still hoped that his answer would make sense, the less suspicion they had tonight the better.

The bartender thankfully nodded in agreement, “Ah makes sense, plenty of isolated villages around especially in your neck of the woods though I’m sure you know all about that.”

Adrian internally breathed a sigh of relief, as he was going to reply he saw movement from the corner of his eye as Lorne tried and failed to flirt with the doctor. Maybe the man thought he was far more suave than he actually was, or that the Ziegler would be an easy catch, but his attempts to sweet talk Angela to a quieter area were hilariously stonewalled against her no-nonsense rebuttals. Excusing himself from his newfound friend, he walked up to them as he laid a hand upon Jacob’s shoulder, lightly turning him to put the man’s attention on Adrian.

“Leave the lady alone, she refused your company now just accept it like a man and find someone else.”

“This isn’t any of your business you meathead thug.” He jabbed a finger into Adrian’s chest, “I’m doing quite well, now just scuttle off to whatever hole you crawled out of and stay there.” He said with a disgustingly smug face as if he’d single handedly ruined Adrian’s very existence with those words.

He tried to turn back to Angela, but Adrian grabbed his shoulder once more, this time forcefully turning the man to face himself much to the surprise of Lorne Jacobs. Jacobs went to poke Adrian in the chest once more, a slurry of derogatory smears readied at his lips before his finger was caught tightly in Adrian’s grip. The slurs died on Lorne’s lips as Adrian wrapped his arm around Jacob’s shoulder in a friendly manner while also covering the man’s mouth with his hand. With his other free hand wrapped around Jacob’s finger he whispered in the furiously sweating man’s ear.

“I’m sure Doctor Ziegler was glad to see you, but she’s busy now and thus too occupied to entertain private conversation. Do you understand?” Jacob’s nodded slightly as Adrian continued, “Good, now what’s going to happen is I’m going to let go, you’re going to leave with this reminder, and not bother us or anyone else for the rest of the night alright?”

Once more the man nodded, relief in his eyes as his body relaxed before his eyes shot open in agony as Adrian bent the finger back with a subtle crack in one smooth movement causing the man’s legs to falter. He tried to scream but it only came out as a very muffled grunting that was easily overpowered by the mass of people conversing behind them going on about their business.

Adrian waited a few seconds for the man to calm back down before speaking, “Now that you’ve been reminded remember what I said, because I will do it again, and I will find you no matter where you are in this building.”

The man furiously nodded as sweat profusely ran down his face, Adrian released his hand from the man’s mouth as he desperately drank in the air before scurrying off into the crowd like rat all while coddling his finger.

Turning to Angela he remarked, “Germans am I right?” She glowered at him with faint annoyance, “Oh right, you Swiss Germans are alright though.”

His poor attempt at humor worked as she let out a tired sigh, “He was an acquaintance from college, much nicer back then but I suppose people can change for the worse as well as for the better. You didn’t have to be so harsh dealing with him though, not that I’ll lose any tears over his injury.”

“He is in a room with some of the best doctors in the world, I’m sure he’ll live.” They chuckled together as they walked away from their site of altercation, “Gotta admit it was pretty smooth how I handled that though right? Almost like a spy, maybe I missed my true calling by becoming a solider.”

“You sure changed your tone from earlier, I thought this was the bane of your existence.”

“Still is, but the whiskey was pretty good.”

A crackle from their comms drew their attention, “ _Fareeha here, snuck my way into the library on the east side which should prove a good spot. Its massive with a balcony on the opposite end, unless someone decides to stray from the party for some late-night literature, I think we’ll be good.”_

Angela nodded as she replied, “Understood, I’ll convince the Greogri to head there when he makes his rounds.”

As if he summoned by the mere mention of his name, Boris Gregori’s voice rang out across the room as he stood behind the podium Adrian had noticed upon their arrival. He followed Angela to one of the open tables littered throughout the room, taking a seat next to her as he only kept a vague focus on the oligarchs speech, something about everything having arrived as well as some empty congratulations on all their hard work. He called announced the first panel of scientists to which Adrian zoned out even more, Angela had enough attention for them both, so he turned his focus to tracking Boris’ movement. He didn’t think the man suspected them but better to be aware of their enemies path regardless. The man stood off to the side with members of his entourage discussing something, he imagined the shady work of the underworld never slept and likely neither did Boris.

How much time passed before he was broken out of his self-focused introspection, he wasn’t sure only that he felt himself being shook as if being woken from a daydream. Blinking a couple times, he looked towards the cause of the shaking who was Angela letting him know it was her turn for her speech. He gave her a smile wishing her the best of luck though unlike the others he didn’t turn his attention away. It was funny in a way, her research presentation is the most genuine part of her existence here, well perhaps not funny but interesting to think about. Most scientists here have no knowledge of the underlying purpose, they simply believe it is a celebration of the greatest scientific achievements and thoughts in recent times. Yet Ziegler who knows the reality full well, is still going to give an impassioned presentation on her work that she hadn’t been able to share in the past couple years for fear of Talon relation, though overzealous those worries may be. He tried to watch with genuine interest in her presentation but most of the stuff she talked about went over his head.

“ _Well she sounds awfully passionate about what she’s saying, so I guess I’ll just have to take her word for how great it is._ ” He heard Liam quip over the comms.

“ _It’s a good thing you were brought for your brawn instead…though that also seems to br lacking.”_ Amari jibbed back.

Adrian quietly chuckled at the interaction though forced himself to keep his composer as he saw the balding oligarch himself making his way over to the table. The man made himself comfortable in Angela’s chair as he leaned back, watching the presentation with great enjoyment.

“I apologize for my comments earlier, as a working man you must understand how hectic everything can be in a situation like this. Some people just come to stir up trouble.”

“Of course, sir.” Adrian replied impassively.

Boris nodded, “Though you must know how much weight your employer carries in the scientific community, this recent development of hers especially, I believe it could be revolutionary. As it stands its fantastic, but with a bit more development and a change in direction…the world itself…would change.”

Adrian stared at the man unnoticed, it started to make more sense why Russia was willing to disregard one of their political cornerstones if he was still willing to change the statis quo, still Adrian had to keep his facade, “I don’t know about that, I just do what I’m ordered to.”

Gregori’s face fell as a frown of disappointment crossed his lips, “I suppose you wouldn’t…”. The frown didn’t last as it vanished it the blink of an eye before being replaced by the exaggerated excitement as Angela finished her speech to massive applause. Adrian wouldn’t be surprised if half the volume came from Boris slapping his meaty hands right only a couple feet from himself. He winced at the noise as Ziegler made her way off stage and through the clapping ensemble, a faint look of surprise upon seeing Boris already awaiting her return. Adrian could only give a halfhearted shrug at her curious look before she turned her focus towards their target.

“Ah Mr. Greogri, I must admit I’m surprised to see you again so soon, I must be drawing the jealousy of many others.”

“Not at all Doctor Ziegler, though I admit my motivation to talk is a bit selfish, I have a proposition I’d like to discuss with you.”

“As it happens, I was going to ask the same of you, if you don’t mind can we got somewhere a bit quieter?”

“Well of course! It seems were cut from the same cloth you and I.”

Adrian rolled his eyes at the flowery exchange, it reeked of utter bullshit but he had naught to do but follow the duo as they walked away from the table. He kept a nice enough distance behind them to not stay in Boris’ focus, though he did wonder how the doctor was going to convince him to go to the library, ah well it wasn’t for him to deal with. He trusted Angela to have everything in hand. Walking out as another scientist took the stage, out of the corner of his eye he spied a familiar black suit appear from crowd and fall in line next to him as well as another suit from the opposite side. As long as they were clustered together, they have free reign wherever Boris and Angela went, a blundering mistake on the part of his security forces but a blessing for themselves.

Barbie leaned in whispering, “Enjoy yourself? Just like back home Kasporov shoots the shit while the devilishly handsome Liam White handles the work.”

“If we weren’t in public I would strangle you.”

“Now you sound like Gunny.”

Adrian tried not to smirk as he saw Boris opening a tall oak door in front of them, glancing towards Amari she nodded in confirmation that they were at the right room. Continuing to walk forward, Boris held up his hand as the trio neared the entrance.

“Apologies but she’ll be perfectly safe in here, but we must talk of business now.”

If they didn’t have to bring him in alive, Adrian would kill the bastard right here, alas orders are orders.

“Of course, if you’d allow me to close the doors.” Adrian responded.

“Oh well thank you.” He spoke somewhat surprised having expected more resistance, turning around smugly he didn’t notice as Adrian motioned for Amari and White to enter the room as well. When the door closed, he opened his mouth to speak but found he couldn’t as a firm arm had wrapped around his neck, squeezing his throat shut. It was harder than he thought, the man’s girth added an extra layer of protective fat around his neck, like a natural cushion; Adrian was squeezing with all his might, but the oligarch was surprisingly resilient. He felt the sausage fingers of the man dragging across his suit jacket as he tried to pry off Adrian’s arms to no avail. Just as it seemed the man was going to pass out, he surprised them all by thrusting backwards with all his might causing him and Adrian to barrel through the door they’d just entered. Sending splinters everywhere the crash knocked Adrian off Boris as they both splayed onto the carpeted floor of the palace. As if to exacerbate the problems, a couple armed guards just happened to be making their rounds at the end of the hallway and the loud crash unsurprisingly caught their attention. Rolling out of the way as a burst of bullets erupted the floor where he’d just been, Adrian drew the SOCOM from his hip and unloaded into the legs of the two guards as Boris screamed for help, but not before Amari smashed his face into the floor with her fist. The man laid there unconscious as a blood flowed from the man’s broken nose into a small puddle. Frantically Adrian scrambled off the ground, ripping a fresh magazine from the inside of his jacket before executing the two guards as he rushed over to his team to help carry the body. Shouts down the hall calling for someone to check out the gunshots caught his attention as he cursed a storm at their shitty luck.

“Angela call in the exfil, Liam grab his shoulders while I grab the legs, and Amari keep us covered.”

They went to do their respective tasks as Adriana and Liam bent down, hefting the heavy man off the ground as they slowly made their way back through the shattered door and into the library. At the door, gunshots could be heard popping off as Amari began to pick off first set of guards. He and Liam tried to carry the body as fast as they could, but the library was lavishly extravagant which meant it was also unnecessarily large.

“Fuck that’s a lot of them, someone give me another gun!” Amari yelled as she fired a few more shoots before changing her mag as she rushed into the room, not waiting for an answer she ripped Liam’s pistol from it’s holster as she opened fire with both her own and Liam’s pistol as a set of Boris’ private security came into view at the door. Fareeha continued to provide akimbo support as they made their way towards the balcony. Just as they crossed out into the open air, a dark steel aircraft lowered vertically from right above them presenting them with an opened hatch at it’s rear with a couple Russian agents who helped provide support as they opened fire as well. Liam and Adrian picked up their pace the final few meters before practically throwing their target into the back of the vehicle where the Russian operatives switched from providing covering fire to dragging the man further into the craft. Adrian took over providing support as he yelled for Amari to make a mad dash for the craft. His SOCOM tore through whatever armored vests the guards we’re wearing with ease, reaching within his jacket for the final magazine he watched as Fareeha jumped over the balcony railing and onto the hatch of the aircraft.

Letting out a few more shots on the closest guards, Adrian followed suit and jumped from the railing, landing with a heavy thud upon the metal floor of the aircraft just as it started to pull away. He barely had a chance to breathe a sigh of relief when he felt something wrap around his leg, looking down he saw a clawed gauntlet wrapped around like a snake as it emerged from a trail of black mist. It tugged on his leg sending him to the ground, he desperately scraped the hatch for a grip as he felt himself being pulled out and the wind rushing past him.

“Adrian!” He heard Liam scream as he tried to grab onto his brother-in-arms but just a moment too late as Adrian’s nails dragged across metal before they felt nothing but the open air beneath them. The aircraft started to grow distant in his view as the yells of his teammates became drowned out by the rushing wind whipping by is head. Landing with a heavy thud onto a grassy garden below, he struggled to get up only for the raging pain in his back to send him crashing back down to the grown. Groaning in pain, he felt his consciousness slipping from him despite his attempts to keep his eyes open. The black mist materialized to the side as well as a slim purple figure made itself known, fucking Talon he thought to himself.

“Consider this payback from Barcelona.” She smirked as Reaper’s boot filled Adrian’s vision before landing with a crunch. Widowmaker looked a second longer at the unconscious pain-in-her-ass before turning her attention to Gabriel. “What now?”

Reaper thought on his words a bit before thinking, “Now we take him to the doctor, she’ll love having a new pet. ‘Sides I’m going to have a quick chat with our friend first, so having a doctor nearby will keep him alive as long as we need.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this chapter felt like it took forever, and after numerous revisions this is what's left. I'll be honest some parts I like, other parts I'm not sure how I feel about so I'm curious to hear all of your thoughts. Anyway I'm just glad to be past that chapter and onto something new. With that said I believe we are nearing about 300 pages, so thank you all for the support and in the grand scheme of this whole story I'd like to think we're a bit over the half waypoint now. While a lot of plots points change as time goes on, I've had a definite beginning, climax, and end since the start of this project and I'd say we're definitely over halfway point. Already I have some ideas for a possible sequel or at the least some more Halo content, but that's quite a ways from now so we'll deal with that when we get there. Thanks again for all the support, leaving your thoughts below and enjoy!


	39. I Heard Them Singing

**?????, ?????**

His head pounded, his back screamed, his hands were bound.

Adrian groaned as he came back to consciousness, his mind swimming as he tried to piece together the recent events but for now, he was having enough trouble just trying to focus his thoughts. Cracking open his eyes to prepare for the influx of light, he was surprised to see only more darkness. Briefly he thought he was locked in a windowless room but as his mind caught up with the rest of his body, he realized he was being dragged as the tips of his toes slid across the ground as well as the feeling of a tight cloth wrapped around his head. Cool air brushed across his skin as he realized he’d been stripped of everything, his bare body exposed to the chilling draft as his toes dragged across the floor.

He struggled against the bondage only to be meet with a slap to the back of his head as someone shouted, “Knock it off.”

The pain in his head flared as it felt like a boulder crushed his skull, despite the throbbing his memories started to flood back. The gala and the fight followed by his fall from the aircraft by Talon’s hands. He grit his teeth in frustration at his capture, it felt pathetic, demeaning, to have ever been in such a compromising situation though he could at least let off some self-chastisement given his barebones equipment. Had he been in full gear, equipped with the entirety of his arsenal he suspected things would’ve played out differently, alas there’s no changing what happened. Now he had to plan on escaping though first he had to figure out where the hell he was.

Any plans he had were interrupted as he was unceremoniously tossed onto the ground, a cold ceramic tile if the feeling was anything to on. Trying to push himself off the ground, he was promptly kicked in the side sending him skidding across the floor, his back practically screaming at the force with his skin raw at the grating slide.

“Fucking hell that’s cheap.” He muttered as he laid there taking in the brief respite before pushing himself into a sitting position as his blindfold was stripped off revealing a dour looking room with a single chair in the center. Turning his gaze towards his abuser he was surprised to see the grim reaper incarnation standing in front of him, it’s perpetually unreadable expression imprinted upon the mask as it stared him down. He stared back before opening his mouth, “There’s only so many times I can make the same joke, Halloween this and Halloween that, you gotta give me something to wo-”

His jab was cut off as Reaper lunged over digging his claws deep into Adrian’s gut causing Adrian to gasp in surprise as he could feel the metal talons wiggling in his guts. His eyes opened in shock, the only sounds escaping his mouth a sort of dry wheeze as Reaper picked him up off the ground with the imbedded gauntlet. The white-masked villain reveled in the agony he caused as Adrian squirmed like a stuck pig on the end of his hand before tossing the foreign marine into the sole chair. Adrian took in several deep breaths as the excruciating pain left his body, his hands clambering over the gaping wound upon his stomach.

“You feel what I had for dinner? I could use some help remembering, my memories a bit fuzzy.” Adrian said sarcastically between gasping breaths.

“Your humor will die here, but you won’t. I’ll make sure you live to feel every excruciating second.”

“Funny, I was going to say the opposite.” Adrian grinned showing off his bloodied teeth, “You may not die here, but I guarantee you will and it will be by my hand.”

Reaper looked at him for a second, he could’ve sworn he felt at the masked villain smile through his words, “We’ll see.” Before turning and leaving the room.

Adrian waited a few second after he left before letting out a deep scream he’d been holding in, “Fucking CHRIST!” It felt like flaming needles we’re piercing his innards every second, he tried not to move but the pain was so immense it was like he was trapped in an endless cycle of agitating his wounds and suffering all the more for it. After a few more minutes of excruciating agony the pain finally faded leaving Adrian enough peace of mind to take stock of his situation which at the moment was pretty shit. As warm blood continued to pour out from between his fingers, he too greater stock in his room not that there was much else to comment on. It was a windowless, ventless, inescapable brick, normally that’d just make the challenge more interesting but right now…well it wasn’t so hot. Time passed indiscriminately; he wasn’t when the door to his cell opened up but he’d already been feeling light heated by that point for quite a while.

“Ah what a shame, seems he let the temper get the best of him again.” A female voice spoke up clicking her tongue.

Adrian looked at the newest entrant to his room, a slim woman with short red hair flared back in a tight black outfit looked him over with an apathetic expression. “I’m usually…much more…to look at…” Adrian let out breathlessly, the blood loss having drained him off most of his usual energy, “But well…it’s quite cold or – maybe that’s just the blood loss.”

“Joy, another witty one.” She sighed as she pulled up a hard light table from the floor as she set a bag of equipment on it. It was then Adrian noticed that her outfit was layered as well as a series of metal implant accented the back of her pale hands that ended with long dark purple nails. She then pressed something upon the table that caused hard light restraints to appear around the chair, trapping Adrian to the spot, not that he had intentions to do otherwise in his current condition. Kinky he thought to himself.

“Is the claw hand required by Talon? You know part of the brand, or is it just the trend these days?” He said a bit clearer though still stumbling, not that it mattered much as she didn’t even dignify him with a response, rather she seemed more interested in talking to herself or rather…she spoke to Adrian but didn’t seek a response.

“I was told you were interesting, that you would be worth my time. So far I see nothing unusual but I suppose the mystery is part of the work. Regardless I can’t have you bleeding out, it would be detrimental to my research.”

She extended her hand to him at which point a fusion of light burst forth in a fusion of color and noise, it engulfed his entire body much like Angela’s magic. He could feel the wounds upon his stomach contorting and regenerating, but whereas Ziegler’s was like akin to an itch this woman’s ‘healing’ was excruciating. It was like his skin was being stretched and torn to replace the torn tissue. Angela’s work to his understanding regenerated the cells to heal faster, but this…it wasn’t healing it was more like torture. He bit down try and give himself some measure of control though it didn’t help much. His body convulsed against the restraints, his limbs trying to break free of their imprisonment as the pain grew. When she finally relaxed her arm, Adrian let out a sigh as he slumped into the chair thanking whatever god there was that Overwatch found him and not Talon. If this is what they had to grow through each time for serious injuries than they could count him the fuck out, though it did cross his mind that she made it hurt specifically for him; an honor but not one he sought on reliving.

Looking down upon his previous wound he was unsurprised to find no trace of his previous wound, hell if he’d gone through all that only for a ragged scar to be left then it’d be a massive pile of bullshit. Pushing himself up in the chair despite the cuffs, he noticed her rummaging through her supplies as she shot him a curious glance before turning back to her tools with a questioning look on her face.

“Quite the welcoming, though I don’t think I’d want you as my masseuse anytime soon.” She didn’t respond instead turning to him with a nasty looking tool in her hand, plenty of points and twists to ruin anybody’s day. “Well that’s uh…Don’t suppose there’s any chance of just letting me walk out of here do you?”

For once she spoke, even stooping down to his jests with a retort of her own, “I’m afraid not, we’ve got a myriad of tests to run. The new world might just be in the palm of my hand.”

The two Talon guards stood outside obediently, silent in their vigil though even they couldn’t help but share a look of uncertainty or better described as “Glad it’s not us” as deep screams echoed out from the room into the main Talon compound.

* * *

Winston stood in the observation panel neighboring the interrogation room, watching the event unfold in front of him with brutal efficiency though he couldn’t help but wince at the shudder inducing noises emanating from the room. It was something that had to be done but that didn’t mean he had to be proud of it; not that there was much room for debate. Not only was it one of his own agents whose life was on the life, but he didn’t think Liam would accept any other answer. When the squad first returned to the base he’d already been made aware of the unfortunate turn of events in securing the targets and as such already had a plan in place for recovery. All that went out the window when he saw the determination in Liam’s eyes.

When he first met the newest ODST member turned ally of Overwatch, he was pleasantly surprised to find that the man known as Liam ‘Barbie’ White appeared to be much more amiable than Adrian was. Though of course he didn’t discount the fact that landing to a familiar face was far more comforting than Adrian’s experience, but that didn’t dimmish the overall more lax attitude of the Australian soldier. To see that languidly vaporize into a mask of pure contempt was something that caught him off-guard to the point he didn’t even try to object when Mr. White requested a personal interrogation of the target. The only stipulation being that Amari also be with him in the room, the unspoken understanding being that he wanted insurance White wouldn’t eviscerate the oligarch the first chance he got. If he was being honest he didn’t think that would be necessary, there was a restrained fury to everything happening, probably because of the training regime both he and Kasporov endured. By all it accounts it was some of the most brutal, unforgiving, and strenuous combat priming in existence. Following that line of thought Winston knew he should be surprised but still…it was hard to not be.

A door opened with a swoosh, bringing his attention to the new occupant of this stifling depressing room. A flop of brown hair and an flashy smile told him it was Lena, his long time friend and one of the first members to follow him unto this journey of ‘New Overwatch’. He flashed her a forced smile though he had a hard time being so joyful given the circumstances. She looked from Winston to the interrogation through the window, her grin turning to in impassive stare as Liam did his work.

The room was quiet for a few seconds before she spoke up, “It’s darkly fascinating. You see Liam and Adrian together and you think to yourself that they seem like two completely opposite personalities. ‘It’s a wonder’, you think to yourself, ‘That they’re mates. Yet right now…well…” Lena stopped as her mind raced back to Seoul where Adrian ‘extracted’ the information and then the similarities to the present. “Bonds forged in hell fire, not something we’re ever likely to experience.”

Winston agreed, Overwatch had their own trials and turbulations that formed friendships and rivalries but how those bonds were forged is what separates and will likely always separate his world from Adrian’s. The extinction of your species breeds odd friendships.

He snapped back to reality as he remembered he wasn’t alone to dwell on his thoughts, “Ah is there something you need Lena?”

“Nothing in particular, just checking in. It’s been a couple days since tensions got high and I know how you get absorbed into your own thoughts. Remember to take care of yourself, you can’t well lead us if you’re starving or tired.”

“Fair enough, I think I’ve seen enough for today.” Winston was glad to have such trusty worthy allies and even better friends. Looking back towards the interrogation for a brief glance he knew that Liam and Adrian shared a similar bond, they just went about it in a different way. Still there was plenty else he worried over, lest of all was the effect on the crew. Angela, Reinhardt, Genji, and Hana had all taken the news of Adrian’s capture harder than he thought they would, with some colorful language thrown in as well. Even Athena had expressed concern! The thought made him chuckle for the first time in a while though in the end it all served to steel his resolve. As he followed behind Lena nerves hardened as he made a vow, they would find Adrian no matter the cost. Come hell or high water, he was going to be found.

* * *

Adrian grunted as a closed fist pounded into his abdomen, sending him lurching backwards as his accommodations had changed from a chair to a pair of chains hanging from the ceiling that now wrapped around his wrists. The chair he’d now come to miss quite a bit laid tossed into a corner, it’s frame covered in dried dark red blood. Bloodily drool leaked from his mouth not that he could do anything about or had the energy too, in a windowless cell with he lights always on there was no way to gauge time though all he knew was his life since waking up had been fucking hell on Earth. Intermittent periods of torture broken up by that bitch doctor Moira’s testing, he wasn’t sure if they knew he was from a different world, but they knew he wasn’t like them. At first he considered it a silver lining, the less they knew meant the more likely they were to keep him alive to continue their tests. Though now as seconds passed into hours into days, he thought it’d be better to just put a fucking bullet in him and call it done.

Another fist rocked his body, this time he could be a number of ribs cracking under the punch causing him to cough up a glob of blood onto his assailant. A small bit of satisfaction as it landed square onto the Talon mercs face, the man screaming a number of obscenities as he increased his barrage of attacks before wiping his face in disgust. At first Reaper had personally overseen the sessions though he had stopped coming…some time ago…a few days ago maybe? Longer? Maybe he got bored or he was sent out on assignment though he doubted it was the former; Adrian had managed to pick up brief snippets of conversation between the torment and the ‘healing’. Reaper was obviously fucked up beyond belief, not psychologically or rather not _just_ psychologically, but physically as well. It didn’t take a genius to figure that out but to the extent and the cause well, that was up for debate. Adrian didn’t have all the details, hell barely had any, but he’d made some logical assumptions and, in his mind, they made sense. Reaper is barely human, the foundation of his new body was nano-particles or something along those lines, Adrian had guessed it might’ve bene similar or derivative to Angela’s work. Regardless it wasn’t something he wanted, more than that it seemed the man was living his life in constant agony, every second of ‘living’ was enough to drive some men to suicide. Admirable in a way he supposed, though at that point he himself would rather just bite the bullet, what’s worth living for at that point? Bringing himself back on track, he didn’t think Reaper left to boredom because it seemed one of his few pleasures was killing and inflicting pain.

“Starting to make me work up a sweat.” The merc talked like he was tough shit, easy to be like that when your opponent is a bound captive. He flicked his hands of the blood flecks as he began to walk out the door, “I’ll give you a couple hours of rest before I leave step it up a notch, sweet dreams ya fucking gip.”

Adrian didn’t even have the energy for a biting remark, instead like every time before he hung there limply. Metal cuffs digging into bloody muscle having already long ago wore the skin on his wrists down raw. Sighing to himself he tried to once more tried to get a lucky break by trying to yank his hand through the cuffs to no avail. He’d thought about snapping his fingers to slip through or hell even cutting it off, but both proved a problem the later obviously not needing explanation. The former though, well truth be told hanging above the ground didn’t give him a whole lot of leverage for force and his hands we’re kept well enough apart to prevent such a thing from happening. Truth be told the current situation was not great, honestly hard to imagine it getting any worse though surely life could find a way.

Just as those thoughts passed in his mind the door slid open, Adrian didn’t even give a glance until an oddly familiar voice rang out to him. “Doesn’t seem like your room service has been all that great.”

Rolling his head to the front of his body, he saw Edith motherfucking Hansen standing there with all the pompous smugness of… honestly he didn’t have much to compare it to…maybe…some heiress of Misriah Armory? They’d probably be pretty bitchy he imagined. God truly had a sick sense of humor.

“It’s been a while.” He commented both literally and metaphorically, his voice crackled like a dry creek bed as he unconsciously tried to lick his lips that felt like stone.

She slowly walked over to him, slightly tilting her head to match Adrian’s. “It has, since Germany I believe. You’re not blind nor are you dumb, so I imagine this isn’t too much of a shock.”

“I put the pieces together a while ago.”

“No hard feelings I hope.”

“Business is business.” Though they both knew that wasn’t entirely true, “I have been wondering, was that first night planned or just coincidence on a galactic scale?”

She shrugged as she strutted around him, “Can’t go around spilling all my secrets now can I?”

“Coy as ever.” He growled out only to immediately regret it as he began immediately coughing, his throat dryer than a desert. His ribs ached to remind him that even coughing was a punishment now, it was if even his own body was out to get him.

“They really did a number on you.” She remarked to which Adrian didn’t reply, “Not interesting like this is it? Picking on the weak can be fun but at this point it’s more akin to beating a dead horse.”

“Well that’s something we can agree on I suppose.”

She began to walk back towards the door before looking back at Adrian, “Talon’s honestly pretty shit but they let me do what I want for the most part.”

Adrian raised his head with the last of his energy to stare at her.

“Which right now, I want things to be interesting cause word is you’re not long for this world. See you soon Adrian.”

As she left, she slapped the hard light panel on the wall that Moira often used before her examination. With a screeching cry the chains above him loosened as he fell to the ground with a slap of raw flesh on tile. Dazed he barely managed to look up as the door slid closed behind her vanishing form. Laying back down on the floor he closed his eyes for a moment, his body relishing in the brief rest he had as his breathing feel into a steady rhythm. Just as it felt his body was on the verge of sleeping voices outside his door snapped him awake as his instincts began to kick him with adrenaline slowly pumping throughout his body. The reality of the situation set in, this was his moment, and if Edith words held any truth to them, he didn’t have much time. Seems they got what they needed or hopefully they hit a dead end. Either way he had to make a break for it while he had the chance though the main obstacle still remained. Looking at the cuffs around his hand he sighed – speaking of breaking – he took a few deep breaths before gripping his right thumb and yanking inwards with all his might until he heard a crack and felt a pop. He grunted as he looked as the limp digit hanging to the side, it took a bit of force but eventually he pulled one hand free. Sighing in relief as he popped his thumb back into place, he looked at his bloodied wrist, a thick band of raw muscle made itself clear as he had a new problem to worry about, assuming he made it out, infection. First things first though he turned his attention to his left thumb and repeated the process though this time having already experienced it made the process smoother. As a whole though neither hurt as much as he thought not that it should be such a surprise considered the other wounds he suffered here, this was like a walk in the park.

Rolling his wrists as he got used to his newfound freedom, he savored the few seconds granted to him before he stood up. Slowly walking over to the door, he put his ear against the steel frame and listened for sounds outside, to get some idea of his surroundings. Perhaps as a retribution for his suffering, or maybe some god had deemed his plight worthy enough to be granted a break for outside he could hear muttering.

“ _Fucking Jenkins leaving me here alone, I know that fucker isn’t going to the bathroom. Probably strolling around the whole damn complex to kill time before the next shift shows up.”_

Pulling his ear away Adrian almost felt like screaming out in joy, he reluctantly held his tongue, there was still a lot more he had to do. Walking back over to the empty chains, he grabbed one and brought it back with him over by the door, in his state he’d need every advantage he could get. Placing his back against the wall by the door he gave himself another few seconds to catch his breath, even simple actions like this were taking their toll. Fuck maybe he was here longer than he thought.

He pounded the door with his fist several times, not trusting his voice to be loud enough to be heard through the cell walls. On the other side he could hear more muttering as the guard swore to himself, wondering what the hell could be making that noise. Peeking through a slit in the door Adrian could hear the man gasp in shock as the room seemed empty.

 _“Fuck fuck fuck what do I do. If I go in now it’d be really fucking dumb, but if I call for backup, I’d get my ass reamed by the sergeant. Plus I’d have to say why Jenkins wasn’t here and that’d probably get pinned on me too as well as the prisoner. Shit fuck shit………………Alright fuck it I’m Talon. I’m a bad ass motherfucker part of a group of bad ass motherfuckers.”_ Adrian rolled his eyes as he heard the man’s pep talk before gripping the chains tighter in his hands as the door slips open. The guard cautiously walked in, foolishly checking everywhere but the damn corners, if this was a UNSC marine Adrian would do as this bastard’s sergeant would and ream the fuck out of him. Still, it worked for him.

Adrian looped the chain around the merc’s neck as he tugged him into the room, the door sliding shut as he fell into the cell. Adrian threw the man to the ground as he wrapped the chain a few more times around the man’s neck, the guard desperately struggled as he tried to dig his fingers underneath the chain. As the guard gasped face down on the floor, Adrian placed his bare foot upon the man’s back and pressed down with all his force while simultaneously pulling up on the chains with all his might. Despite his exhaustion Adrian’s rage more than made up for it, he felt as if he had the strength of a brute as he yanked the steel chains again and again. Eventually he heard a crack as the man’s neck broke, but he didn’t stop there, this poor fuck was the unlucky person to suffer all Adrian’s pent-up fury. He tugged once more this time putting his entire back into it. A sick squelching sound reached his ear on this final pull as the chain pulled through the guard’s fingers, broke the skin, and eventually tore through the man’s neck. Covering Adrian in a spurt of warm blood, he stared down at the decapitated body at his feet with an almost nauseating glee before he slumped down briefly. The adrenaline leaving his body as his limbs felt gruelingly tired, his arms like sacks of concrete and his legs like jelly. In his post-murder clarity, he thought to himself, “What now.”

Staring at the wall opposite of him, eventually his eyes drifted towards the growing puddle of blood that was slowly inching it’s way towards his feet, the thought of his naked body wallowing in a pool of blood didn’t appeal to him. Following the blood to once more gaze upon the corpse, he had an random thought of how that man’s boots seemed to be the same size as Adrian, they’d be nice to keep out of the blood. Adrian stared a few more seconds at the body before the logic of his thought caught up with the rest of him and like a brilliant spark in the darkness, he had a path out of here.

…

…

…

The prison door slid open as a man in dark black armor with red eyes stepped out, making sure the door closed just as quickly behind him lest anyone seem the surprise inside. Adrian looked down the hallway, noticing that in front of him laid another wall leaving the sides as his only option. A sole Talon member was making her way down the hall, noticing Adrian’s lost look despite the fact his face was hidden from view.

“Got a problem?” The other Talon soldier asked as she neared Adrian, realizing this could be a good chance he tried to make his voice sound more youthful than he was.

“The sarge told me to deliver a message-” Adrian racked his mind to remember how those annoying green recruits sounded back home.

The Talon soldier cut him off, “And you’re lost right? New here I assume.” To which Adrian nodded as the woman continued, “Where you headed?”

“The exit, supposed to be someone on duty there.”

The woman stood there thinking, “Probably Ashton then. Listen you’re gonna take the way I just came from, go to the very end of the hall and take a left. Then immediately after take the first right you seem and that’ll spit you out right by the entrance.”

“Much obliged.” The woman nodded to Adrian as he begun to make his way down the hall, the Talon assault rifle in his hand acting as stress relief as he constantly fiddled with the grip. Briefly glancing behind him he saw a second Talon agent come rom the opposite way, making his towards the cell door. Fuck.

Faintly he could here the man swearing, _“Where the hell did Gutierrez go? Excuse me ma’am did you see a man leave his post here?”_

Adrian sped up as the man he knew as Jenkins call out to the other Talon member he just spoke too. She replied with a curious tone, _“There was some lost recruit just here but… wait a second what’s that leaking from the door.”_

With that Adrian booked it into a full-fledged sprint down the hallway as he knew his plan had gone down the drain, thought it’s possible he could pull it off. It’s not like they’d know specifically who he was. He just had to get lost in a crowd but god dammit, that woman knows exactly what his plan is, won’t take a genius to put two and two together. As he hit the end of the hall, he bolted to the left following the instructions given. He saw the aforementioned right turn just as alarms blasted throughout the base, an ear-piercing claxon siren screeched as a voice followed the blasted warning.

“ _We have a prisoner on the run making a path to the exit though know he’s dressed as one of us, keep any eye out for a soldier out of the ordinary.”_ The voice droned as Adrian was forced to bring his dash to a composed walk as he turned into the bustling heart of the base. Talon soldiers all around were stopped in their tracks as they spoke to each other in hushed whispers. _“The prisoner is highly trained, lethal, and armed, prioritize neutralization above all else. Shoot to kill, I repeat shoot to kill.”_

Adrian swore under his breath as he flicked the safety of the assault rifle, discreetly checked if there was a round chambered, as muscled through the crowd of soldiers. Truth was he was stuck between a rock and a hard place, he could either play dumb like the rest of them though he imagined it wouldn’t be long till they singled him out or try to escape as soon as possible which also meant drawing unnecessary attention to himself. All things considered he thought to himself as he pulled back the hammer of the pistol in his holster, he’d place his odds with shooting his way out.

A few odd whispers were directed his way as he neared the exit, two beefier Talon mercs stood by the steel doors as he approached, both staring him down as they relayed information over the radio. The one on the left held up his hand to stop him, he didn’t even get a word out before Adrian shouldered the assault rifle and pulled the trigger, the rounds tearing through the merc as he stumbled back against the wall. The soldier closest to Adrian tried to raise his rifle but wasn’t quick enough as Adrian jammed the smoking barrel under the guard’s chin and deftly spun around the man, putting the Talon operative between himself and the rest of the base.

“Drop the rifle, open the door, and pray to God that someone doesn’t fuck this up for you.” Adrian snarled. In front of the two there was a swath of Talon mercs that for the moment wouldn’t open fire, but he wasn’t sure how long that would last until someone higher up figured the poor guard was just a casualty of necessity. The man wordlessly obeyed as he tossed his gun to the floor, backing up with Adrian he stuck out as arm trying to find the biometric scanner. Once his hand was scanned, the doors behind Adrian unlocked with a hiss that let him push through the steels doors with ease. The two of them awkwardly shuffling backwards through the door until it closed in front of them, Adrian immediately putting a bullet through the biometric scanner putting it into temporary lockdown. Quickly glancing behind him it appeared they were in a small concrete entrance way with an overhang, a few meters out Adrian could spy glimmering white snow meaning they probably hadn’t traveled out of the country but the fuck did he know.

“Anything out there waiting for me? Automated turrets, guard towers, anything?”

“Uh n-n-no nothing offensive. You-you’ll probably set off some alarms but that doesn’t matter.”

“You lying to me? A base of this scale with absolutely no defense?”

“This whole district is in our pocket, the police, the local militia, the military reserves, they’re our defense. Besides…we’re in the middle of now where man…nothing for fucking miles. Barren forests and ice for as far as you could travel, they’ll get you before the end of the night.”

“Well see about that.” Adrian pushed the to his knees before bringing his rifle to bear and unloading a single bullet into the Talon guard’s skull. The corpse hit the ground as Adrian turned from it, instead focusing on his immediate escape to continue his freedom. Dashing outside he spied a number of handy vehicles organized along an invisible line on both sides of him like a parade. Hopping into the nearest armored jeep, he ripped off the bottom panel attempting to hotwire the thing into action. His hands were still screaming from the torture with thumbs sore from their recent escape, he lacked any precision as he practically jammed wires together like a meat headed caveman. Eventually he struck gold as the engine roared to life, none-too-soon as he could hear screaming and shouts coming from the entrance. Not even wasting the time to spare a glance, he slammed on the gas as the jeep jolted forward with the raw power under it’s hood. The sound of bullets ricocheting off the metal and reinforced glass sent him flinching with every hit. Rocketing down the nonexistent path, a quick look in the rear-view mirror showed the hidden base disappearing into view as well as the soldiers. It wouldn’t be long till they got in vehicles after him, fuck they might even have some air support in a different part of the base that he didn’t know about.

Ahead of him the wide-open clearing turned to a forest of dead trees and massive pines, turning the steering wheel to fit the off roader through a narrow opening between two massive firs he could hear the branches scratching against the metal as the jeep bounced over the uneven terrain. He swore with every bounce as the jostling aggravated his wounds, his cracked ribs feeling like they punctured something. He weaved in and out of the obstacles ahead of him, though behind him the sight of enemy trucks started to come into view, they’d likely know the area giving them yet another advantage. More gunfire erupted in sporadic bursts as Talon goons blind fired from behind him, most went wide but every now and then a few lucky rounds would glance off his ride.

Ahead of him the trees got denser, making it harder for him to squeeze through some already narrow gaps. It was becoming harder and harder to see ahead of him as the barren branches turned into an incorrigible mess mixed with the occasional lively pine that blocked any sight. Often times it felt like a damn miracle when he’d ram though a heavy branch and not be greeted with a thick trunk dead set in his path. A particularly rough bump sent him into a coughing fit as the taste of blood filled his mouth.

“Well that’s not good.”

Which ended up applying to two situations, the blood of course and the immediate lack of ground ahead of him. The woodwork was so thick that he couldn’t make out the cliff through the tree line. Slamming on the brakes he braced himself as the jeep lurched to a halt but it was too little too late, as the jeep’s tires screamed against the brakes and icy ground. Bracing himself in a protective position he let out one final swear as the jeep skidded off the edge of the cliff, plummeting twenty meters to the ground below. For a split second he felt weightless in the cabin of the vehicle before he immediately slammed forwards as the front end slammed into the ground with a crash of grinding metal sending as it tumbled onto its room. Adrian was thrown around the interior like a rag doll, slamming against the steering wheel in front of him before being thrown to the ‘floor’ of the overturned vehicle with a crack.

He laid there for a split-second groaning in agony before slowly pushing himself up only to fall back to the metal underneath him screaming as another crack echoed out. Rolling onto his back his lazily lifted up his right arm, hard to see under the armor but he could feel it now, his humerus had snapped in half with part of it jutting through the skin. Trying to push himself only worsened it, the rigged break could faintly be outlined through the flexible under suit. Seemed he used up all that good luck he’d been spouting about.

Clenching his teeth; he curled himself into a sitting position, ignoring his ribs roaring in protest. Turning to the side, he kicked out the drivers side door, reminding himself that he didn’t have time to waste not matter how badly his body needed the rest. Stumbling out into the snow, he yanked off his helmet letting himself spit a dark red blood into the snow as a dripping from his arm joined in painting the snow. Awkwardly using his left arm to pull the pistol from it’s holster on his right side he began to stumble out into the forest as he could hear engines driving around him like beasts hunting in the night. He didn’t make it far before two snow camo trucks pulled in front of him and quickly opened up to reveal a dozen armed Talon soldiers as they lined up quashing any hopes of his. Taking a small step backwards he glanced down at the pistol in his hands before turning his gaze back upon the soldiers.

One of them spoke into his earpiece, “Target is corned, are the previous orders still in affect? Understood.” The Talon grunt then focused his attention onto Adrian, “I’ve heard a lot about you, killed a lot of my friends you know? Shit happens in this line of work, still though I won’t lie, I’m gonna enjoying putting a round between your eyes.” The man unleashed a round into Adrian’s right leg sending him down to one knee. “Oops I missed.” Those Talon fucks around him snickered as they lowered their guns, content to let their comrade exact his brutal revenge.

Adrian raised his pistol as he spoke, “Then man up and fuckin-”

He didn’t get to finish as the Talon operatives ahead of him turned to a fine read mist in the blink of an eye, chunks of gore and viscera splattering the ground like a sick modern art piece as the deafening roar of a turret shredded his enemies like god damn paper. Craning his neck he saw an Overwatch Swordfish hovering a ways behind him, a red hot barrel sizzling in the freezing weather.

“Holy god damn of all that is holy, thank the fucking LORD!” He belted out with a manic laughter, he’d honestly though that was the end, hell he thought for the longest time that he would be meeting the actual reaper in some tiled cell god knows where. The Swordfish landed not far off, a handful of people disembarking though Liam’s jet-black armor easily distinctive amongst the white snow and clear blue sky. Adrian fell on his ass as his good leg gave out, the adrenaline having long since worn off back when he’d escaped the base initially. Blood pooled in the snow around him from various wounds, he sat there all the same as Liam rushed over.

“We can all this way for this? Barely looks like a typical Friday night for us.” Barbie joked as he looked Adrian over, the man immediately pulling out a standard trauma kit and a foldable stretcher.

Adrian chuckled, immediately regretting it, “Don’t – don’t make me laugh…I think I got…a couple fractured ribs.”

“Then what the fuck are you sitting for ya cunt? Though I suppose we ain’t got time to waste for now.”

Heavy stomping drew Adrian’s attention to the behemoth of Reinhardt making his way over, a grim smile upon his lips, “Space man! Didn’t think you could escape me that easily did you? I still have many more stories to regale you with!” The German joked as he single handedly picked up the stretcher with Adrian was placed upon, Liam walking right beside.

“Any other major injures? I assume they didn’t go easy on you.”

“They had…some…healing…but I think my humerus is poking through and well, I was shot. How did you...find me?” Arian wheezed out.

“Yeah I can see that, with your arm guess you’ll have to learn to wank it like a leftie now. To be honest? Pure luck, but we can talk about that later."

Adrian stifled the laugh he felt rising, instead looking around him as they neared the aircraft, a couple heavily armed Overwatch personnel standing watch around the temporary perimeter. Going from the sunny exterior to the darker interior was a relief to Adrian, to have the glaring sun out of his eyes was a small joy but felt immensely gratifying to him. As he was placed upon a row of seats, a familiar golden halo appeared in the corner of his vision.

“Guess death… ain’t so bad if all angels are like you.” He spoke coarsely as Angela filled his vision.

She gave him one of her calming smiles, “Seems you haven’t lost your humor, though you’ll be saddened to know you’re still among the living.” He cracked a smile despite the pain before grunting in pain as the aircraft shook as it took off, the smile on her face briefly faltering as she laid a gentle hand upon his cheek. “We can heal some minor wounds, stop anything immediately life threatening but some of your more severe wounds are going to have to wait until we’re back at base.”

“I’ll live…I think.” Though at that point he faltered, scoffing to himself he spoke “Christ…I didn’t think I was actually going to make it out of there.” Back home he’d been ready to face death, still was and that’d never change; but the thought of going out like an animal in a cage was…horrifying in a way.

Seeing his own façade drop, Angela’s usual warm demeanor similarly broke as her face took on a much tired, much more worried look, “I had hope we’d find you, but I’ll admit – I was worried Adrian for a lot of reasons. Some I’m still trying to grapple with.” Before he could ask what she’d meant, she leaned down near him with the hand on his cheek brushing up into his hair as she kissed him, an act that caught him by surprise though he reciprocated. It was short, filled with anxiety, uncertainty, and longing…it was different than anything he’d ever experienced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoo-boy and here we are! Apologies for long wait, mostly just university work and playing Wasteland 3, enough of that though we've reached a critical point with our characters haven't we, I hope this feels natural though it's still going to be a slow burn for the most part. I'll be honest its kind of weird reaching such a critical part in a story, like even I didn't believe we'd reach such a point when I started writing. Anyway I hope you've all been enjoying the story up to this point and will continue to enjoy it!


	40. Like a Feeling

**City of Vermillion, Coetzee II, Basker System**

**2546**

_Adrian sighed in boredom as he adjusted the sight on his spotter scope for the umpteenth time, passing time as he and Idris ‘Wizard’ Farhan kept on eye on the southern flank of their front. The city of Vermillion was half-way between utter ruin and barely being recognizable as a city, still it held strategic importance only the fools in command would know. With that indisputable fact, it became known that jackal marksmen and Sangheili snipers had taken to picking off anyone they set their sights on from the southern ruins. In front of him laid a wide though ultimately empty boulevard of near five dozen meters plus a mess of sidewalk, that was immediately followed by a mostly intact series of office buildings and apartment complexes. The Covenant were no strangers to brute forcing their way through issues, though their main forces laid at the heart of the city where the main assault of UNSC forces was happening. That didn’t stop them from utilizing our exposed flanks, and hence here the two of them were acting as glorified babysitters while the rest of the squad ran search and destroy._

_Adrian and Idris would be adamant that such a posting was unfair, that of course it had nothing to do with the rather flagrant comments on the acting captain’s wife. Who to be fair was quite something to admire, more than that they’d absolutely deny acquiring that faded polaroid any other way than simply pure luck as they stumbled across it in the FOB. So of course it reasoned that the gunny’s choice to stick them as far away from the acting captain as possible was nothing short of miraculous coincidence. That said, it didn’t change the situation nor their posting, so they continued to stay vigilant for movement in the opposing buildings until ordered otherwise._

_“If you keep twisting the knob it’s going to break.” Wizard remarked as he stared down the scope of his tailored SRS99, his tone light despite the intensity of his work._

_“And if you keep straining to find a target you’ll pop a blood vessel.” Adrian retorted though his fingers drifted away from the scope, instead toiling with a small chunk of rubble beside him._

_Wizard looked back from the scope, resting the stock of the rifle on the ground with the bipod keeping the barrel pointed skywards, “Yeah well, can’t imagine the shitstorm it’d cause if someone got hit by enemy fire on our watch. Especially in our current standing.”_

_Adrian gnawed on the thought, “Good point, at least take a rest, I’ll take over the scouting.” He offered as he looked through the spotters scope._

_Silence reigned between them for a few seconds before Idris spoke up, “Damn it was worth it though.” The two laughed together, “Forget the ninety-nine virgins Allah, just give me one like her and we’ll call death a worthwhile endeavor.”_

_“How the hell did that stick-up-his-ass captain with a face like liquid shit manage to land someone like her?”_

_“It’s all in the personality my friend.” Adrian shot Idris a curious glance from behind his visor, “You see…she’s probably a righteous bitch.”_

_Adrian had to bite down from laughing loud enough to alert every sharpshooter in a mile to their position._

_“True enough but can you imagine the lay? I get tingly just thinking about it.” Adrian commented as he turned zoomed in the spotter scope just a touch._

_“Eh. I couldn’t put up with it for the relationship like he does. You’re too short-sided Adrian, you gotta think about the long term, what about marriage in the future? Do you want to live with a woman whose all looks with nothing meaningful underneath?”_

_“I do think about the long-term, that’s why I live for the now.” Adrian awkwardly spread his arms out in front of him, highlighting the total annihilation that laid barren before them. “Rather, why do you insist on well…” Adrian struggled to put his thoughts into words. “You’re not a fool Idris, we both know the endgame of this fucking war so why keeping stringing yourself along for something better?”_

_Wizard shook his head mirthfully, “Then why do you keep fighting if the ending is already written?”_

_“Well that’s – that’s different.”_

_“Is it?”_

_“I fight cause I don’t have anything else to do or worth doing. Killing covvies is what I’m good at and makes sure there’s one less to enjoy the victory, but love, marriage? Those are just thoughts, hopes compared to the action of reality.”_

_Wizard mirthfully shook his head, “You have no thoughts beyond that? No hopes, no dreams for beyond what we’re already doing?”_

_“Feels like we’re just wrapping back to my original point, this is all we’re ever going to be doing. Seems like you’re only setting yourself up for depression setting up attachments that will only fade away.”_

_“A fair enough point, but you said it yourself, live life in the now. So why does that have to be immediate gratification, quick fucks, and nights black out drunk? Sure, there MAY be sadness down the line, but the time in-between will be wonderful, especially when you find yourself in dark times, having something to hope for may be what gets your ass out of the fire, forcing yourself to care means you yourself have a reason to live.”_

_“Is wanting to stay alive not reason enough?”_

_“For some yes, but for others no. Let me tell you something. There’s a girl that I was with before she moved to Earth, she was something special and I mean beyond what was immediately seen. My time with her… it went beyond someone I would die for, rather it was someone that I strove to live for. That’s how much she pushed me; can you imagine having someone so close to you that you’re compelled to live simply for the sake of being together with them once more?”_

_Adrian stayed quiet for second before responding, unsure of how to word his reply, “What happens when – if – she dies. Then what? You’re a sobbing, inconsolable mess in a time when we don’t have that luxury.”_

_Idris nodded in understating, “Perhaps, hell you’re probably right, but even so I dream of the time we could spend together hope for the day I see her again. On the long nights when it’s just us under the open sky, the footsteps of Covenant troops echoing around us as they hunt us down to skin us alive. On those nights I think of her and I like to think I’ve survived many encounters because of that drive to see her again.”_

_Adrian didn’t have a response to that, he laid there on the rooftops with the only noise being the whipping of wind as it whipped past them. Out of the corner of his eye a brief snippet of movement caught his eye as he focused the spotters scope across the way, Idris didn’t need words to immediately snap back into position with his sniper rifle, eyes glued to the buildings across the boulevard._

_Adrian spoke carefully, “Glass building with the sunken roof at eleven o’clock, second floor from the top – jackal at a hundred n’ three feet with winds at……”_

_Their conversation still echoing in Adrian’s mind._

_…_

_…_

_…_

Adrian awoke from the dream of times past; he blinked a few times as bright lights burned his retinas. Raising his arm to cover his eyes he groaned as it felt like his hand was weighed down by sacks of sand, in fact his whole body felt like it was covered in a steel blanket.

“Its ‘bout damn time.” An Aussie voice broke into his mind, it was with those words that Adrian remembered what led to this situation.

“Christ Barbie, feels like I was used like a glorified pinata.”

“Based on the medical scans that wouldn’t be too far off.”

He finally lifted the hand from his eyes to see the plain white ceiling of the med-bay above him as well as several large lights above him. Struggling to push himself up, he settled for laying back on his elbows as he glanced about the room, empty save for Liam and himself.

“How long-”

“A day from the moment you passed out on the way here; then about a week in our enemies gracious care.”

Adrian snorted at that last part, “Shouldn’t I be in the care of a real doctor?”

“Kept you alive so far ya cunt, or maybe I’m not pretty enough to pash?” Adrian practically choking on air, “Don’t think you were so subtle there mate, not that I blame though.” Liam whistled lowly.

“Look its…complicated.”

“Alright sure, anyway your _real_ doctor is right outside the door talking with Winston.”

With a great amount of effort and no less in trying not to sound like an old man, Adrian pushed himself up into a sitting position on stiff slab of insulated metal that doubled as a table and a medical cot. “What’s the damage then?”

“Well you had a real bad tummy ache, quite the booboo on your arm, and a big ol’ scratch on your leg. But don’t worry, one kiss from papa here will fix that right up.” Liam spoke with the exaggerated tone a mother would a baby.

“Will that include kissing my ass while you’re at it?”

“Only if you pay up.” The two chuckled as Barbie got serious, well as much as the wise-cracking Australian could, “Not great but not awful. Seems whatever that witch doctor in Talon’s employ was doing worked no matter how panful your account was. Honestly though your ribs and humerus will need some serious rest, the damage to the surrounding muscle was pretty damn severe. Still not as bad as Wolfe taking the spiker round to his wrist, it’ll take time but it’ll come naturally, not like his wounds.”

Adrian nodded; Wolfe was their resident demolitions expert who one day some years back took a stray needler round to the wrist. Bad enough on its own but it also practically demolished the bone and muscle in that region, so utterly pulverized that even bone-matrix replacement wouldn’t save it and the muscle was useless. Now he had a prosthetic hand that he boasts as being better than ever due to him now being able to practically lift any heavy-MG with relative ease.

“That old fuck spill anything?” Adrian questioned, of course referring to the Russian oligarch Boris.

“Oh yeah, gave him the classic UNSC welcome and not only did he talk about damn near everything, it’s how we found you.” Adrian raised his brows, asking Liam to continue, “Well he didn’t give us specifics, hence why we didn’t blow that whole base to kingdom come as soon as possible, but he kept records of every transaction with Talon. After so many dealings he started to notice a trend in shipping locations, especially within his own province, so we had a few flight crews carrying various members of Overwatch. Just happened that the Swordfish holding yours truly was in the airs when the gunfire erupted.”

Adrian smirked, especially upon noticing that Liam’s knuckles were dark and bruised, he wasn’t kidding about that workover. Before anything else could be said, the door slid open to reveal not the doctor as Adrian had assumed but instead was a much smaller though arguably more vicarious Overwatch member.

“Yeesh you look worse than usual.” Hana remarked with her typical flippant tone though that couldn’t hide the gleam in her eyes or warmth in her voice.

Not one to take such a ribbing sitting down, he bit back, “I’m sorry little girl, this is a big adult area for grown-ups, and I think its past your nap time!”

She walked over lightly smacking him in the chest as she grinned, “You ass.” Adrian wheezed as he doubled over, Song apologized through laughter, “I’m sorry but you’ve never seemed older than you do now, it’s like not touching something at the museum cause you might break it.”

“Yeah well, you should head my warning while around this lecherous old man right here.” Adrian gestured to Liam.

“Whoa now man, even I won’t stoop that low.” Barbie scoffed at the implication knowing full well the age difference and not even touching that mess with a ten-foot pole.

Hana rolled her eyes, “Yeah yeah whatever. I held off Reinhardt for now, we were all worried he might crush you in a bear hug and literally kill you.” Adrian nodded his appreciation, “Though Genji came along too, figured you didn’t have to worry about him.” As if summoned by the mere mention of his name, the mentioned cyborg ninja appeared, carefully balancing a porcelain cup in his hand upon a small plate.

“My friend, I was glad to hear of your safe recovery and return, celebrations are in order once your health returns. In the meantime however, I brewed a specialty tea from my childhood, wisdom has it that ingesting it will bolster the recovery of injured warriors though it’s also a simply enjoyable mix.” He spoke as he handed off the cup to Adrian.

“Much obliged, hell knows I’ll need every bit I can get.” Adrian responded as he sipped the brew; true to Shimada’s word, the supposed healing properties aside, it was a damn good brew of tea – like really damn good. They spent the next few minutes simply talking, with Hana and Genji filling Adrian in on the key events he’d missed though mostly it was just a period to unwind for them all.

Sometime later the door opened once more, this time Doctor Ziegler in fact being the one to step through the door, any trace of her uncertainty from their brief encounter gone or masked behind her typical demeanor. Thinking back to their kiss, it had been brief, too brief in his opinion, when she pulled back it was like being yanked from the warmth of a good cot and tossed to the bitter frost of the frontlines. Afterwards she’d briefly excused herself to which Adrian couldn’t do much to follow or similarly excuse himself, being momentarily crippled upon the stretcher. Liam then came to talk with him which would be the last thing he could remember, at some point during their conversation he blacked out only to awaken in the med bay on base. His body, simply having been operating on fumes for god knows how long, took the first opportunity it could to rest.

“Well it looks like someone got quite the welcoming.” Angela spoke with a smile.

“If you consider abuse of the handicapped a welcoming, I suppose.” He shot Song a friendly glare.

“Ah so you admit you are handicapped? Always knew you were behind the curve mate.” Liam joked.

“See what I have to deal with?” Adrian threw up his arms in exasperation.

Ziegler stifled a laugh as she walked around his cot, checking various monitors as she passed and jotting down notes. “You’re in luck then, I was coming to ask for everyone to clear out so I can run some more tests, and no offense to some of you but I prefer to work in peace and quiet.” She eyed Hana and Liam.

Genji left gracefully, giving a small bow upon his exit which was a stark contrast to the young Korean’s grumblings as she followed suit. Liam was the left to go, giving Adrian a gaudy wink and a not-so-accidental pat on the back as he left, whispering with a shit-eating grin, “Don’t know it will be quiet for long.”

Adrian tried to rap the other ODST on the back of his head but was too slow as he’d slunk out of the room quite deftly. Leaving Adrian to mimic Hana’s personal grumblings as he lightly massaged the place where Liam had hit him.

“How are you feeling Adrian? Anywhere the still hurts more than simply sore or aching?” She asked as he motioned for him to lie back down upon the cot as it raised itself towards a more reclining chair position.

“Uhh – not that I can feel. Though my arm sometimes feels strained when I move it, same with my chest when I sit up.”

She wrote something down, “Alright, nothing too unusual, the injuries you sustained were quite severe and will take time to fully recover, so that’s too unusual. If it gets worse or continues to feel the same in say…two weeks, then let me know.”

He nodded, “How long until I’m back on duty?”

“Not for a couple weeks at the least, even then it’d be a tentative recommendation at best, though in five days I’d recommend so light exercise, stretches, or simple aerobics to help work your body back into peak condition.”

Nothing was spoken between them for a bit until the tension was simply eating away at Adrian, obviously could switch between her professional and personal life with the flip of a switch but there was still a desire to have answers for what had happened.

“So uhh…Doc…about what happened.”

She stopped writing, the professional veil dropping completely as she coughed into her hand awkwardly, “It was – it is complicated…. I suppose. I was genuinely worried and in the wave of emotions once we found you…” She trailed off unsure how to continue.

“Heat of the moment then?” He postured with no hint of accusation upon his voice, “I get it Doc, tense times with a big payoff, emotions go high and well maybe not always int eh way we imagine.” It was something that happened quite often within the UNSC, big victories or major losses had that effect, especially on the ones down in the trenches serving on the frontlines. Sometimes those built-up emotions exploded in less than pleasant ways, other times it might be a relatively harmless confession or period of intimacy in the heat of the moment. He was prepared to resign himself to that fact despite the odd feeling of disappointment within him, an unfamiliar clenching in his gut.

Angela looked up towards him with a slightly surprised expression, “No! No. Rather…what I did I meant, it’s just I…this is rather unusual for me.”

“That makes two of us.” Despite the relatively calm exterior he was exuding, inside it felt like a mess of thoughts and impulses that was driving him crazy. It was like charting unexplored territory, which was simultaneously exciting and terrifying, though there was a deeper level to it than that which he figured was the core issue of both her uncertainty and some of his own. “We both live…unconventional lives…and…” Like she did earlier, he trailed off as the full reality of the situation came down upon him. In the past, had he been on the outside looking in he already knew full well what his reaction would’ve been, the same it was in the memory he’d just awoken from.

_‘What’s the point when the end is near?’_

It’d been the driving point for many soldiers in the UNSC, and it was the reason he’d never sought any sort of serious relation though that wasn’t the only reason. With sky-high death tolls across every front in the war, there wasn’t any place immune to the Covenant’s desire for utter annihilation. He’d seen plenty of soldiers form attachments only to be grieving the following day after they watched the very person they’d confessed their love to have their brains blown out with all the ceremony of throwing out the trash. The thought of getting so deeply attached to someone to only live each day wondering if they’d make it out a live, or vice versa, wondering everyday if he’d leave them a sobbing mess as his corpse became one with the ground as a covvie glassing beam erased his body from the sands of time. He’d already experienced it once with his sister, with his parents, with his whole planet being reduced to a soulless husk of rock floating through space, to commit oneself to the same agony was exorbitant self-flagellation that only had paths to destruction.

“Maybe…fuck I don’t know.” He swore as he shook in head, and he knew Angela was suffering the same type of uncertainty, just on a different level. For her, her work was her life, was the whole reason she pushed herself, the thought of not being able to save as many as possible was crushing. To deviate from that was the same sort of self-afflicted misery Adrian was so consumed by. She might try to rationalize it as work-place conduct, but in her mind Adrian was sure that she was worried that if she became invested, involved with someone…it might cause her to shirk her duties which equated to losing lives that could’ve been saved. On top of that, she wasn’t a fool, she knew the risks of Adrian’s job especially with the inevitability of him returning home, neither of them could say how that would impact either of them when that time actually came to fruition.

Still despite his own thoughts, the words from his dreams penetrated his mind, Wizard’s warmth seemed contagious in much the same way as Angela. In a time like this he silently thanked the man’s steadfast philosophy though he’d never say it in person.

He hesitantly spoke, “But…the way I see it…what’s the worst that could happen.” Angela shot him a curious glance, “We got once life, one chance at making it what it is and frankly it’d seem like a waste to have this opportunity and waste it. I mean against every conceivable odd of scientific fact known to humanity, against the very fucking laws of nature themselves, I traveled to a whole other Earth managing to survive improbable odds after being in a one-in-a-million event of being absorbed into a slipspace portal. There’s bound to be problems down the line, but that’s for Adrian and Angela of the future to deal with, no reason to never try anything because of what _might_ happen. Hell, if anything that should be encouragement to do it, to be able to spit in the face of what could’ve happened but didn’t and say, ‘fuck you, look where I am now’.” His hesitantly had turned into a full-blown rant in a matter of seconds, his hesitant demeanor quickly turned into his brash, unrestrained, and oddly charming personality that Angela had grown to enjoy.

The doubt in her thoughts had seem to fade at his words, now a toothy smile adorned her face, “I don’t believe I’d ever heard something so poignant riddled with such crass language.” She laughed, “Though I agree, there’s an old cliché saying that lacks the same flair as what you say. We each have our concerns, our worries, but there’s no reason we can’t deal with those along the way. Besides, I have the feeling that well… this whole relationship will take some time; problems don’t disappear in a day.”

Adrian snorted, “No doubt, it’s gonna be rocky before it’s smooths out.”

“That said,” She leaned in, “I’m glad we’re trying.” Angela grabbed Adrian’s chin, drawing him in for kiss, they’re lips pressing together in a flurry of erupted emotions this time without the abruption of confusion. Heat ran through him as her fingers dragged across his cheek before she lightly pushed him back, a cocky grin ran across her face that’d normally feel so out of place on the doctor but at the moment drove him crazy.

Voices from outside drew their attention as Barbie could be easily heard despite the thick walls, “WELL UHH SIR, DOCTOR ZIEGLER SAID SHE HAD WANTED PEACE SO MAYBE I SHOULD GO ALERT HER FIRST.”

The distinct baritone rumblings of Winston’s voice could be heard despite the lack of clarity in the words, though it didn’t take a genius to imagine that he was wondering why Liam was yelling.

“WELL, IF YOU INSIST ON GOING IN, I JUST HOPE THE DOCTORS NOT BUSY.” Barbie really emphasizing that final part, as Adrian and Angela laughed together.

“You can’t fault the man for helping.” Adrian remarked as Angela stood up, straightening her doctor’s coat out.

“Despite your rough exteriors, it seems that the Covenant of your world haven’t managed to crush humanity’s heart.”

Adrian lightly smiled, thinking back one last time to everything that had happened, “Yeah…I suppose you’re right.”


	41. Around the World

**Watchpoint Gibraltar, Iberian Peninsula, Europe**

“And I’m just saying that shit wouldn’t work. Trying to cram that much processing into something that small and you don’t expect it to blow up? Come on man.” Adrian exasperated as he took a glance down at the two cards in his hands before turning back to the two cards laying in the center of the makeshift table laying haphazardly in a corner of the workshop.

Lucio waved his hand dismissively, “I’ve already got that figured out.”

“So you’ve tested it?”

“Eh I’ll get around to it.” The DJ knocked the table with his fist as she turned his focus back to the game, “I’ll check.”

“Wh- Brigette back me up on this, come on.” Adrian turned his attention to the third member of the game while also knocking on the table.

She raised up her free hand, “Don’t drag me into this, I was promised a break from work. That being said, you’re both cowards.” She tossed a handful of chips into the pile, causing Adrian to groan. “Can’t keep up Kasporov?” She shot him a smirk as Lucio gleefully chipped in as well.

The final member of their little game spoke up, “I’m out.” Gunnery Sergeant Vickers grumbled, “God damn kids.”

Adrian sat their silently. Chewing the inside of his cheek as he contemplated his next move, sparing a thought towards his shrinking pile of currency, figured to hell with it and pushed it all-in. “Everything I got.”

“Ho-oh big man over here.” Lucio quipped as he threw in more of his chips followed by Brigette as Vickers sat watching the game with a curious glint in his eyes.

“So how much of that do I get if you win?” Vickers joked.

“You get the joy of not losing everything.”

“Hey now, if it wasn’t for me you wouldn’t be in this game.”

“So then if I lose, how much of your money do I get to take?” Adrian quipped back which promptly shut up the veteran. “All right Lucio, let’s see the final cards.”

As Lucio flipped out the final two cards it only served to reinforce the fact that Adrian was awful at cards. He groaned as Brigette chuckled sweeping the pot inwards as she claimed victory with Lucio happily ambivalent and Vickers wheezing like a dying animal as he doubled over laughing.

“Ho-ho-” Vickers struggled to get out any words as he continued to laugh like his life depended on it, “Holy shit. You – you thought you’d win with THAT!” Just as he’d started to calm down, he broke into another fit o wheezing laughter, slamming the table with his open palm.

“I swear I’ll fucking get you back two-fold.” Adrian muttered.

Despite his threat even the others couldn’t help but join in on the ribbing, “I feel bad, like taking candy from a baby.” The usually sweet Brigette said without hesitation.

Adrian pushed himself away from the table, his chair screeching against the metal floor as he planned to do _anything_ else. Standing up he turned only to walk right into a brick wall, or at least something that felt like it.

“What the – Oh Reinhardt, didn’t see you there…somehow.”

The German simply chuckled, “It’s no problem my friend, though I could use your help with some heavy lifting, there’s a lot to be done but I am only one man.” Adrian gulped at that, he’d helped Reinhardt in the past, the man’s idea of heavy lifting was carrying solid steel parts halfway across the base, not something he was looking forward too. Briefly turning to look behind, he saw that the others had practically all bolted as soon as Reinhardt had mentioned that. Everyone loved the big German, but when he asked for help your body would be needing some help of its own later. Everyone saves one veteran whose clothing had gotten stuck on their makeshift metal table, Adrian ruthlessly grinned as he turned back to Reinhardt while reaching out to Vickers, securing the man’s shoulder in a vice grip.

“Gee you know I’d really love to but I’m still healing you know.” Not a total lie, it’d been a little over a week since he’d bene back and while he felt he was ready to get back into the fray, he wasn’t afraid to use the technically of his injuries as an excuse to get out of work he didn’t want to do. “But don’t worry, Vickers here was just complaining to me about not having anything to do on base. He’d be more than happy to help, isn’t that right?”

Vickers stared wide eyed at Adrian before looking at the hulking behemoth of a man standing in front of them, “Course, I’m uh just itching to help.”

Reinhardt let loose a hearty laugh, “ _Wunderbar!_ Come we have much work to do!” The German slapped a heavy hand down on Vickers’s shoulder, causing the man to wince as he was led away. Adrian gave an exaggerated frown and waved sadly to Vickers before snickering to himself as the two of them turned a corner and disappeared from sight.

Standing there alone the grin quickly faded as he lit up a cigarette, looking around the mostly empty room he wasn’t sure what to do. It wasn’t an uncommon problem here, hell it seemed anytime he was stuck on base for an extended period he got restless. Walking out into the blistering sun, he absentmindedly started to wander the base to either kill time or hopefully find something that caught his attention. He enjoyed a good break every now and then, but back home it was months upon months of constant fighting to be broken up with a few days of leave before it was back to the frontlines. Here though…it was rare to go back-to-back on missions, which was probably healthier all things considered but left him feeling aimless. Worse though, was being on medical leave meaning he couldn’t or rather shouldn’t spar or exert himself other than basic exercises to keep his muscles with atrophying.

Whether it was his own universe or this one, Adrian had gotten accustomed to zipping from place to place, planet to planet, continent to continent. Staying in once place felt wrong. It reminded him of a story the gunny used to tell, of when the war had first started to break out on the outer colonies and the fighting was starting to pick up. There wasn’t a planned system of fighting and shore leave yet so it wasn’t unusual to be lost as just another soldier in the masses and spend a few years just constantly fighting. Anyway, the gunny had complained to his CO day after day, bitching about not getting his break especially considering the absolutely ass whooping humanity was getting. Eventually his CO relents, passes the message on up the chain and the entire squad got a week of shore leave on some sinner’s paradise. Gunny is there for all of a day before he realizes while sitting at some run-down bar sipping a jazzed-up martini that having a break from the fighting, "Wasn’t as satisfying as I'd imagined.”

Adrian continued to saunter around the hallways, his mind drifting into thought while his body walked on autopilot. When it came to the things he wanted to do, that he actually chose to do and not fall into his lap, he could probably name a dozen things with the caveat those were all in the field. As soon as he stepped back onto base, his mind went blank, there’s a difference in thinking what sounds good and then actually acting on those thoughts when you have the chance.

Well changing his though process, is there anything he _needed_ to do? Did his guns need cleaning? Pffft not as if he’d already field stripped and wiped them every day since he’d been on leave, not that he needed to clean them that much considering those things were built like god damn tanks. What about his armor, did it need work? Scratched and dented to all hell but those weren’t dangerous, besides they told stories of what he’d survived. He’d thought about getting the decals restored, toyed with the idea but figured it’d just be a hassle.

Other than that…he didn’t have anything else really. He kept his shit sorted though not that he had much in the first place. Having run through his options… he had nothing he wanted to do, nothing he had to do, which left him with jack shit.

“Nothing left…great.” He sarcastically mumbled in the hallways as he came to a stop, people maneuvering around him like a rock in a stream until one didn’t.

“Hey, watch where you’re going…Adrian?”

Looking down he saw the smaller brunette Hana staring back at him with her arms crossed in front her, “Hard to see you down there pip-squeak, might’ve stepped on you.”

“Oh ha-ha very funny.”

“Quite the get-up, going somewhere?” Adrian commented though she wasn’t dressing any different than normal, its more so her outfits we’re always energetic compared to what he was used to seeing.

She gave an absentminded shrug, “Just out, nothing special. Why did you want to come?”

Before Adrian could respond Athena commented though the speakers, “Adrian has been wandering the halls alone for quite some time, I’m sure he would appreciate something to do.” A few snickers could be heard from the people walking by as it sounded like a mother scolding her reclusive child.

“Uh well-”

She rolled her eyes, “Just come on! I’m just going shopping for a few things; you can even pick something up for yourself and if you help me carry my stuff, I’ll treat you to one of the best places to eat I know around here.”

He didn’t care much for being someone else’s mule or buying some for himself, but the idea of a free meal? Now that’s something he’d never turn down. “All right sure, lead the way.”

… … …

… … …

… … …

Or rather that’s what he’d normally say but had he known how meticulous the kid was in picking what wanted, well he might’ve changed his mind. Still, he was in it now and he’d be damned if this whole trip was in vain, and that being said it wasn’t awful. There was a lot of stuff he probably never would’ve seen in this world had he not came with Hana, there’s only so much pop-culture you can get from the older demographics and Overwatch wasn’t exactly bustling with young blood. He was teetering on the edge of being young enough to mold to the new culture though he wasn’t sure how much longer he’d be ‘young enough’ for.

For example as it stood right now, he was in some high-end electronics store as Song looked for, ‘Some new tech to update my setup’. Looking around the differences between his world and theories became ever more evident, it’s small things mainly such as how portable technology evolved, the increasingly ever common use of hard-light, and the divergence of things we all take for granted like internet or search engines. For instance back home, while he could technically get access to news in any other colony within the UEG sphere, the practically of it wasn’t so simple. Here however being located on a singular planet, well it was odd knowing that at the touch of his fingertips he could have information on every other nation on the planet, in known existence. Meanwhile while he didn’t lack that same ability, the ease of access was far more complex so it wasn’t usual to never hear of something happening hallway across the galaxy even if it was some massive event.

Something poking his back turned his attention to behind him, he saw Hana holding only a singular bag in her hand which she then promptly handed off to Adrian who grudgingly took it.

“All this time for one thing?” He questioned as he held up the bag in front of him.

“I’m very picky with what I use.”

He snorted, “No shit.” Adrian followed behind as she walked out of the store, giving a brief wave to the owner standing behind the counter before they entered back into the bustling street. “So where too now?”

“Hmmm… clothes shopping and then I think I’ll call it a day.” She peered up at him with a mischievous grin, “You’re not nervous about going into a women’s clothing store, are you? Too manly to be seen in it?”

He shot her an incredulous glance, “I’m not sexually insecure nor am I five, I think I’ll live.”

“Fair enough, if you the police get called you’re on your own though.”

“What don’t you think they’ll buy my story that I was bullied by a nineteen-year-old girl into doing her shopping?” Adrian’s open palm ruffled the top her head to which she ducked under his arm as she fixed her hair with a smile.

“They might, you are old and fragile after all. A baby could probably take you on.”

“A baby? Now that’s insulting, if only there was a baby to test that out on…Ah I think I found one.” Adrian turned his whole body to face Hana, “Excuse me little girl.”

She flicked his forehead sending him stumbling back a step, “I walked into that I guess but still doesn’t make that any less satisfying. Ah we’re here, try not be like…old and gross.”

Adrian scoffed at that, “All said though, I’ll wait out here and have a smoke. Don’t still they’ll take too kindly to me driving out other customers.”

“Bleh, suit yourself.” She stuck out her tongue as she walked into the store with Adrian moving to a nearby bench and lighting up a cigarette.

Leaning back he took in the warm weather and the light breeze coming in from the sea, blowing out a puff of smoke and idly watching as it got caught in the wind. Twirling and dancing in the air as it faded to nothingness.

“What the hell am I doing here.” Adrian chuckled to himself as the absurdly calm situation came to realization, how unusual this was, not just his immediate surroundings but enjoying the weather and smell of the sea. Was he getting soft or just old? “Not even that old.”

“Heh tell me about it.” An old voice spoke up, drawing Adrian’s attention to an older gentleman in front of him, “Mind if I take a seat?”

“Not at all.”

“Didn’t mean to seem unsavory, just needed to catch my breath and heard ya’ talking to yourself and well… I could relate.” The old man explained as he gingerly sat down, sighing in relief as he seemed to sink into the bench.

“Well no offense, but I think there’s a bit of an age gap between us.” Adrian offered the man his cigarette who politely declined.

“Heh you’d be right there, but I used to be young you know, we’re not born this old.”

“Fair enough. Just feels…its weird for me to be taking in the sun, enjoying the breeze, and shooting the shit with some random passerby. Used to being on the frontlines, being away from it seems like I’m wasting time.”

“Well how often do you get a break like this?”

“Not often but this break’s longer than usual, don’t think I’ll ever get a break as long as this.”

“Use it while you can then, take it from an old man, once the times past you’ll be wishing you had it all over again. Though what’s most important is who you spend it with, even the most mundane is entertaining with a friend.”

“Fair enough I suppose, still easier said than done. The longer time goes on the easier it is to enjoy the banality of day-to-day life, but when I think back to what I should be doing – well that hits harder with every passing day.”

“Are lives at stake without you there.”

“Probably.”

“Oh…well…”

“Tough shit?”

The old man cackled with laughter, “Tough shit.”

At that moment, the door to the store opened up with Hana walking out with a handful of new bags, Adrian rolled his eyes as he stood up, throwing the remains of his cigarette in a nearby cigarette bin. He took a few of the largest bags into his own arms as he turned back to the other man sitting on the bench.

“Nice talkin’ with you old man.” To which the geezer simply smiled and nodded as Adrian followed after Hana.

She turned to look at him, “Who was that?”

“No idea, nice enough guy though.” Adrian hand-waved away before focusing on the real point of interest, “Enough about that though, what about this meal you owe me?”

Hana rolled in her eyes good naturedly, “Always about food. There’s a ramen shop not far off though I may have bene exaggerating when I called it the best but wanted to cover all my bases. It’s not bad, quite good actually, but considering its Asian food in Spain it’s doing the best it can.”

“Seems like a weird caveat.”

She shrugged, “It’s comforting in a way, reminds me of a home in a lot of ways. I come here a lot when I feel homesick or just need something cozy ya’ know?”

“I guess.” He understood the sentiment but well it was hard to feel homesick over a place that didn’t exist anymore, but that was all semantics.

The walk there was quiet though not long, like she said it wasn’t far off and Gibraltar wasn’t all that big in the first place. The restaurant itself was a smallish place nestled in-between brick buildings of white stone, a stylish sign hung above the door with the words, _Gaku Ramen,_ emblazoned upon it.

Walking into the place, Adrian felt like it was straight out of a science fiction story because the inside felt far larger than the outside had let on. A sizeable place lined with tables and booths with a massive cooking setup in the center of the restaurant. Following the Korean girl to a nearby booth, he sat opposite of her unloading her newfound possessions onto the empty spot next to him.

“So what do you think?”

“It’s nice, bigger than I thought it’d be.”

‘Right?! Blew my mind the first time I came in.”

A waitress walked up handing them both menus, “Ah Hana welcome back! Glad to see you as always.” Adrian sat there wondering how often she came to eat here if she’d was considered a regular among the staff, “And who’s this joining us?” The waitress asked as she turned her attention to Adrian.

“That’s my brother Adrian.” Hana responded without skipping a beat.

The waitress looked at Song for a bit then turned to look at Adrian before looking back to Hana and then back to him.

“I take after our mother.” Adrian said with a straight face.

“Uh…anyway what can I get you?”

Adrian held up his hands, letting his companion order as he looked around the restaurant, despite it’s rather open interior it was simply decorated with a focus on creating a warm and cozy atmosphere than over-styling itself. After a while the waitress left, leaving Hana and Adrian sitting in silence in their empty booth waiting on the meal.

“Sooooooooo….” Hana drawled out.

Adrian simply raised his eyebrow.

“Just trying to start a conversation so we’re not sitting in awkward silence.”

“Alright, why don’t you tell me about your gaming life.”

She perked up at that, “Good! I have a competition in a couple weeks so I gotta train for that, been slacking off lately because of Overwatch.”

“Slacking off… with saving the world?”

“Yep. Hey don’t make a face! If I spent all my time to Overwatch that’d be so boring, everyone on base has some other hobby they spend time on.”

“Still weird to me but whatever gets you by I guess.”

The waitress returned carrying two large bowls filled with broth, long noodles, various diced vegetables, and thinly sliced pieces of beef. Not wasting any time, Adrian dug in slurping to the disgust of the waitress and the amusement of Hana. When he looked over after inhaling a sloid portion of his meal, the waitress had left and he let out a deep burp after bumping his chest twice with his fist.

“Whew, ‘scuse me. Good shit though.”

“Figured you’d like it, though normally you use chopsticks to eat.” She showed him two sticks as she snapped them apart and deftly used them to eat.

He stared on before snapping his own pair, clumsily he tried to pick up the food but the noodles always seemed to slip from the utensils leaving nothing for him to chew on. Frustrated he tried again, determined not to be shown up by some fancy wood but alas it seemed it wasn’t meant to be.

“They’re not for everyone, just use a fork or else your food will get cold.”

He huffed to himself as she tossed the chopsticks aside, grabbing the fork instead and returning to his food in front of him.

“Anyway, tell me more about your coemption, what’s that gonna be like?”

“So it’s going to be broken into twenty brackets of people from around the world….”

Adrian nodded as she continued, content to sit down eating a warm meal and listening to his friend talk about her interests in life. It was different than what he was used to, but nice all the same.


End file.
